Peaceful protest

Russians from abroad flocked to Salzburg to vote for Putin

Patience was required. It took hours to cast the vote at the Salzburg consulate.(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Vladimir Putin has been in power in Russia for 25 years. Hundreds of Russians made the pilgrimage to Salzburg on Sunday to vote in this year's presidential election - including numerous critics. They queued for hours for the Kremlin's election show, but in the end Putin won again.

"Of course I'm voting for my president," said a Russian woman who doesn't want to read her name in the newspaper. But the woman in her 60s certainly means Vladimir Putin. Until 8 p.m. yesterday, Sunday, Russians living abroad, like this woman, were able to cast their vote in the Russian presidential election.

Hundreds of Russians living in exile made the pilgrimage to Salzburg. The queue of people stretched from the Russian consulate in Bürglsteinstraße across the Karolinenbrücke and past the district court. In the afternoon, election workers counted 1,300 people on the sidewalk. Voters queued for up to four hours to exercise their right to vote. Many of them were from Germany, as the consulate in Munich remained closed.

We will try to show the real result of the election

Natalia Korotkova, Verein „Free Russians“ und Wahlbeobachterin 

The result showed Putin as the winner
The choice in the voting booth was admittedly limited. In addition to long-term ruler Vladimir Putin, only three other candidates were admitted to the election. All of them had to be sympathetic to the Kremlin and could not be critical of the war of aggression. However, one thing was certain even before the polls closed: the result would be a sure victory for Putin.

More than 1300 Russians stood for election.(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

The queue stretched from the consulate in Bürglsteinstraße...(Bild: Markus Tschepp)

...across the Salzach river to the district court.(Bild: Markus Tschepp)

Natalia Korotkova estimates in the afternoon that the Kremlin will soon announce a result of well over 70 percent for Putin. The expatriate Russian and Putin critic is conducting post-election surveys for an organization. "We want to try to reflect the real result of the election," says the young woman, who traveled from Munich. Korotkova is keeping a close eye on what is happening around the consulate. "There will be some who vote invalidly," she says. However, this will probably never appear in the official Kremlin results. Instead, the election results were presented in the evening with Putin the beaming winner.

Peaceful protest for the opposition
The election went off completely peacefully, despite the hundreds of people in front of the consulate. Only a protest rally by supporters of the recently deceased regime critic Alexei Navalny briefly caused a stir on the other side of the street.