International Desk

Overseas voting in Russia’s presidential election went well despite the West’s attempts to disrupt the process, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"The election process took place amid a hybrid war against Russia that has been unleashed by the West. Notably, the war got especially tough ahead of the election," Lavrov pointed out at a meeting of the United Russia General Council’s Commission on International Cooperation and Support for Compatriots Abroad, which he chairs.

"Ill-wishers were actively using various methods of pressure and blackmail, intimidating voters and doing their best to disrupt the election and question its legitimacy and legal integrity," he noted.

"Our ministry and overseas facilities successfully fulfilled their mission, making it possible for hundreds of Russian nationals to exercise their constitutional right," the top diplomat added.

According to him, an additional complicating factor in the organization was the significant reduction of the Russian diplomatic presence in most Western countries, "both in terms of the number of diplomats and the number of diplomatic institutions." "There were also numerous cases of refusal to open additional polling stations to compensate for the closure of consular offices," Lavrov emphasized.

Russia held its first three-day presidential election over the period 15-17 March. Remote electronic voting, also a first, was available to voters in 29, or about one-third, of the country’s regions. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), after 100% of the votes were tallied by local election commissions, incumbent head of state Vladimir Putin beat out his three rivals with 87.28% of the vote.

Source: TASS