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The voting station installed at the Russian Embassy in Vilnius is guarded by the police and security, passing those who pass through a metal detector.
According to BNS, the press secretary of the Russian embassy Alexander Kudriavtsev in Lithuania is about 14 thousand. Russians with the right to vote. They can cast their vote on Sunday until 8 pm polling stations and in Klaipeda and Visaginas.
According to him, electoral participation will be affected both by the coronavirus, which stopped the movement, and by the rainy and cold weather.
2.30 p. M. According to the data, about 500 voters turned out to the Vilnius electoral college. Many of them are retirees, Soviet soldiers living in Lithuania since the end of World War II, to whom Russia pays pensions, and their families. The older people went to the polls until noon and there were few young people.
Voters in some cities where there are no polling stations are taken by bus at the request of the embassy. There are also “exit commissions”: people who cannot come due to illness can vote at home.
Meanwhile, Sergei Riabokon, Advisor to the Minister of the Embassy of the Russian Federation, emphasized to BNS that two of the three Russian citizens imprisoned in Lithuania had not had the opportunity to vote: “There was a lack of understanding of Lithuania’s convictions , ” he said.
Proposed not to replace a broom that sweeps well
Russians interviewed by BNS said they voted for both the ruler and the opposition. Many, among other things, refused to share what they thought about the election and the candidates.
One of the voters was outraged that it was difficult for him to find something to vote for, because “he lives in Lithuania and elects the Russian government, he does not know anything about the candidates and their work, he does not know them.”
“I am satisfied with Putin. And will others come? Scratch everything. As in Lithuania, a new government, a new order. And things change every year. My age is that there is no need for a new order, and neither do my children they need, they even said they wouldn’t vote. So why change the broom, if it still sweeps well? “said Dmitry, who was born in 1935.
Anatoly, 55, claimed that “United Russia” unites, their works are visible, so they cast their vote. Meanwhile, 86-year-old Alexander, who left the embassy with him, said otherwise: “We don’t know the people, no one knew us, we had to vote for something. That voice won’t decide anything. ”
“We would like better relations between the states, and they are getting worse. Bad when people are angry, but when the state is even worse. I would like Putin to be tougher on domestic politics because now he is too soft, “said 86-year-old former officer Yuri.
You are already feeling the change
Svetlana BNS, 53, said she had voted against her friends being recognized as foreign agents: “I voted not to be afraid of us in the world, to separate good from evil in both political and social life.”
According to her, she voted for the same thing in the last elections, and I already feel the changes.
“I have reason to believe that more and more people understand power as reliability, certainty, not shooting. More and more people do not want their children to die in senseless wars, who understand that freedom is good, “said the woman.
Some Russian citizens who voted noted that they had followed the “smart voting” strategy proposed by jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navaln.
The family of Tatiana, 35, and Alexander, 38, also chose this path, but regretted that few of their friends went to the polls.
“I only know one of my acquaintances. There is such a feeling of helplessness. For 20 years, nothing has changed, you can’t do anything. And people stop believing that they can change something,” Alexander said.
“It seems to us that it is better to go and try to change something. Maybe nothing will change, but it will be possible to sleep peacefully so that we can do everything possible, ”added Tatjana.
Veronika, 58, who has been living in Russia for a “different vote,” said she was not guaranteed that the elections would change anything, but that it would make her think.
“If I had told someone in my life that I would ever vote for the communists, I would not have believed it, but today I voted that way. If I voted for a small party, I would get less than five percent of the vote and automatically join. to United Russia, the woman told BNS.
She stressed that she had always voted for the Russian Liberal Party “Jabloko”, but due to the behavior of its leader Grigorijus Javlinskis after the arrest of A. Navaln, the woman did not vote for “Jabloko”.
“He is a false opponent,” he said.
The family of Sergei, 73, and Irina, 54, voted for different political forces.
“I voted for the communists because the communists who are now are no longer the ones who were with Gorbachev. This is a new generation,” the man told BNS.
Among other things, he predicts that something may change in Lithuania since this Duma election: “New faces will definitely come to the Duma, relations (Russia – BNS) with Lithuania will be reviewed.”
“This is not an election, but a sham,” the woman shook his hand, noting that the 9 million. The people of Russia could not stand for election and seek to be elected to power.
He said that he had chosen the “smart vote” option, but doubted it would be popular (among voters living in Lithuania – BNS).
“Maybe young people choose, but they are very few, retirees go and vote in a stable way, we all know what. “Now we are all waiting for the reappearance of March 5, 1953 (Joseph Stalin – BNS died that day) and until that happens, nothing will change, it will not be better,” said the woman.
According to A. Kudriavcev, the vote in Lithuania should have been monitored by public observers, but no one had arrived at the embassy by noon.
Elections to the State Duma, which are expected to be easily won by the ruling party Russia, are being held after an unprecedented crackdown on fierce critics of the government, most of whom have been jailed or forced to leave the country.
Critics say the Kremlin intends to retain a majority in parliament during elections to its lower house, the State Duma, through a two-pronged strategy: preventing opposition candidates from running for public office and falsify the results in your favor.
Tech giants Google and Apple have blocked lists of Russian candidates for whom A. Navaln is recommended to vote, and Telegram has made similar decisions. According to sources, such measures were taken under pressure from the Russian authorities, including threats to arrest local workers of tech giants.
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