MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. Western countries are expelling Russian diplomats in a bid to break down voting in presidential election outside Russia, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
"All Western countries have been sparing no effort to reduce the number of our diplomats ahead of our election hoping to disrupt the offline voting," she said at an event organized by the Russian Znanie Society.
According to Zakharova, Russian diplomats are doing their utmost so that Russian nationals could take part in the voting abroad. "We have done our best to organize the voting at polliing stations [aboard]," she stressed.
The Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, officially designated March 17, 2024 as the day of the presidential election. The Central Election Commission (CEC) then announced that voting would take place over three days on March 15-17.
Four candidates are vying for the top office, namely New People party nominee Vladislav Davankov; self-nominated candidate and incumbent President Vladimir Putin; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) nominee Leonid Slutsky; and Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) nominee Nikolay Kharitonov.