Key facts
- Russians living abroad cast votes on Sunday, the final day of Russia's parliamentary election.
- Many exiled Russians described their vote as a symbolic act of protest against President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine.
- Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled the country after the start of the war in Ukraine.
- Protesters outside the Russian embassy in Berlin held signs supporting Russian prisoners jailed for speaking out against the war.
- Most anti-war candidates were barred from the ballot.
- Initial election results are expected around 1800 GMT on Sunday.
Russians living abroad cast their votes on Sunday, the final day of a parliamentary election, in what many described as a moral duty, if ultimately a futile act of protest against President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine. The State Duma election is the first since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Many voters expressed deep pessimism about Russia's future, even if the conflict ends soon, but clung to the belief that casting a ballot still mattered. Some protesters outside the Russian embassy in the German capital held up a placard reading, in Russian, "Putin is a murderer and a war criminal," and signs in support of Russian prisoners jailed for speaking out against the war. Hundreds of thousands of Russians, many of them young and well-educated, fled the country after the start of the war in Ukraine, settling in ex-Soviet countries like Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan, as well as across Europe and beyond. After years outside their home country, several Russians who spoke to Reuters said they remained determined to see change come to Russia.