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Foreign Ministry to do everything to assist expat Russian voters to cast ballots — Lavrov

According to the minister, this year’s vote marks the first time a Russian presidential election has been conducted amid such a hostile Western campaign of blatant Russophobia

MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry will take all necessary measures to streamline the voting process abroad to enable expatriate Russian citizens to exercise their right to vote in Russia’s presidential election in March while living outside of the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the State Duma, or lower house of parliament.

"The Foreign Ministry and other Russian state institutions abroad are doing everything necessary for the voting process to be organized at a high level, so that our [expatriate] citizens can exercise their constitutional rights. We are cooperating closely with the Central Election Commission on this issue," the top diplomat said.

According to the minister, this year’s vote marks the first time a Russian presidential election has been conducted amid such a hostile Western campaign of blatant Russophobia.

"Of course, we will provide assistance to delegations of international observers from friendly countries and multilateral organizations who will come for the election, including to those territories that have been reunited with Russia," the top diplomat pointed out.

The Federation Council, or upper house of parliament, designated March 17, 2024 as the date of Russia’s presidential election. The Central Election Commission then decided that the voting will take place over three days on March 15-17, making this the first three-day presidential election in Russian history.

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov

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