Russia will open polling stations in the United States in three of its diplomatic or consular posts for its presidential election in March, its ambassador in Washington announced on Wednesday.
This announcement comes at a time when relations between the two countries are at their lowest since the Cold War, due to the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia, targeted by a series of Western sanctions and which sent its soldiers to attack Ukraine in 2022, has not yet decided whether polling stations would be set up in European countries deemed “unfriendly”.
The vote is scheduled for March 17. President Vladimir Putin, who has ruled Russia since 2000, has announced his intention to run for a fifth term. He should thus be able to stay in the Kremlin at least until 2030, the year he turns 78. His re-election is in little doubt in a country where any real opposition has been crushed.
“In the United States, we plan to open three polling stations: in our embassy in Washington as well as in our consulates in New York and Houston,” Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Wednesday, in an interview published by his embassy. .
The United States has supplied weapons to Ukraine against Russian forces, and Western countries have imposed heavy economic sanctions on Moscow.
Russia indicated last week that it had not yet decided on the opening of polling stations in Europe. The spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, reported requests to ensure their security and specified that a decision would be taken before the end of January.
Thousands of Russians have fled their country, many of them residing in European Union countries, since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022.
