Abroad, in Russian embassies and consulates, the turnout is also high. For example, here's the footage from Milan. Despite bad weather, there's a huge queue in front of the Russian consulate. We've seen that green umbrella. At other polling stations across the world, the situation is similar. In some countries, people had to wait several hours.
Yulia Shustraya with the details.
- I'm sure I'll be the first one. The first polling station in the world will open... now. Come in, guys.
Voting in the place where the world begins a new day, in order to win a competition. Two video-bloggers battled for the first vote on the election day. First, Artyom Kondratyev from Odintsovo said that he'd be the first Russian to vote. In order to do that, he went to Kamchatka. However, Maxim Ronkainen from Moscow promised him to have a lead of an hour and went to Auckland, New Zealand for that particular reason. Although he almost lost to an ordinary elderly man who also came to the polling station before the opening.
- Oh no, you can't outrun me. No, no, no, no. Sorry, but I'll be the first one.
Voting early in the morning seems to be a trait of the Russian character. It doesn't matter where people are For example, in Bishkek, Tashkent, Minsk, Dushanbe and other capitals of the former USSR republics there were huge lines in front of the stations. People waited in line for several hours in order to cast their vote.
- We have to fulfill our civic duty.
- We must vote. We always vote. Every time.
The situation in Europe was the same. Lines in front of the embassies in Riga, Berlin, Brussels, Milan, Frankfurt, and Prague. One of the first to vote in Paris was the French actor with a Russian citizenship Gerard Depardieu. And in Oslo — our biathlonist Anton Shipulin. He's currently competing in Norway.
Anton Shipulin, biathlonist: "Today's an important day: We're voting for the president of Russia. Our whole team came to the embassy to vote. It's great that each of us is taking an active civic stance".
This time, our embassies organized polling stations almost in every corner of the world Even those on vacation were able to vote. Lines here as well. In Greece, Thailand, and Cyprus people came to vote despite being on vacation.
- Here's the polling station in Cyprus. A huge line here, everyone wants to vote. As they should.
Asia was also engaged in voting. The high turnout in China surprised the CEC. People were sending requests to vote months before the elections. The situation in the Arab countries and America was the same.
Yulia Shustraya, Vesti
Some new data from abroad: record turnout in Croatia lines of Russians in Greece looking forward to voting and "voting fever" in Brussels. Today, Russians citizens who reside in Europe rushed to the polling stations.
Regina Sevastianova has been monitoring the turnout and the incoming data but, as far as I know, has also voted.
- Greetings, Regina. In 13 minutes, we'll discover who Russians voted for. Or maybe a bit later, when the data will be fully processed. How did the embassy workers deal with such a large number of voters?
- The Russian embassy in Brussels has just shared that it was hard but possible. Behind me, you can see a huge line of Russians who came to vote right before the polling station closes.
Right now, or rather at 6 p.m. local time the turnout exceeded the 2012 one. According to the Russian ambassador in Brussels 1,700 people voted in 2012 in Brussels and in Antwerp, where another Belgian polling station was opened. Today, about 2,000 people have cast their votes by 6 p.m. The ambassador, whom I previously mentioned was one of the first to come to the polling station in the Russian embassy.
Alexander Tokovinin, Ambassador to Belgium: "We expect voters to be no less active than in 2012 when about 1,700 people came to vote. Various generations are highly interested in voting".
What the Ambassador said was on point. Today, we met a veteran, Musina Gulyambyar Zafyarovna who was born in 1922 and came to the embassy to cast her vote for one of the presidential candidates. Some people on their vacation took time to vote. An aspiring saxophonist came from Liege who entertained a few compatriots who were standing in line, by playing the Russian national anthem on her saxophone.
It's not just Belgian residents who were standing in line but also their French neighbors. In all French cities where polling stations were open people also had to wait for the opportunity to cast their vote. In Paris, famous people came one after another first, came our Permanent Delegate to UNESCO Alexander Kuznetsov then, Natalia Solzhenitsyn, the widow of Alexander Solzhenitsyn who came to Paris to visit a book fair. Gerard Depardieu also came to vote. France had the total of eight polling stations. In this part of Europe, the stations will close a bit later. They'll be working until 8 p.m. local time.
- Colleagues?
- Regina, another question: How do Europeans characterize the vote? What do they say and write about it? Because some people do and some don't acknowledge the vote in Crimea.
- Today, experts and journalists were sharing their reflections on Belgian radio. They said Russians had a right to vote but weren't forced to like Belgians. So the experts expected the turnout to be rather low and looked forward to commenting on that but, as we see, the situation is different so now, I also want to hear an expert opinion on the process.
In general, experts haven't yet analyzed the vote and assessed the results in advance. Everybody's waiting for the figures to be officially announced. After that, we'll hear a lot of statements because there'll be a summit of the EU leaders in Brussels. The highest body of the EU will gather in Brussels and might discuss the Russian elections. Tomorrow, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is meeting the head of the NATO and the foreign ministers of the EU. It's clear that after the recent events, there's no way the topic will be omitted. So Europe will definitely be quick to judge the Russian elections.
- Regina, how does the press illustrate the Russian elections? Do they share the dry facts or add some of their signature skepticism?
- Well, of course, forecasts have been made. Experts claimed: "We can already tell who's going to win the elections." There were also journalists who went to Russia to film a special report in order to show how we prepare for the elections. I'd even say, some of the journalists were so convinced that they had their stereotype broken when they discovered the truth. They talked to people and produced some interesting and objective reports. For instance, they praised the fact that our youth is so politically engaged. Their reports were shown in Europe. There was a great report on Swedish TV. Belgian TV also had an interesting one. So Europe has been monitoring the elections very closely and will continue to in the near future. Regarding the opinions, they aren't always nice but there still are some interesting articles.
- Vysotsky used to sing: "I cried going to Vacha and now I'm laughing." It's always better to see the actual situation with your own eyes. Regina, thank you very much. Regina Sevastianova told us about the huge turnout at the European polling stations and shared the experts' opinions.
