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More than 360 polling stations to open abroad for Russian presidential election

A total of 15 contenders, including two independent ones and 13 candidates nominated by political parties, are currently taking part in the election campaign

MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. Russia will set up 365 polling stations abroad for the March 18 presidential election, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"Russian nationals will be able to vote for this or that presidential candidate at one of the 365 polling stations to be set up," Zakharova told a briefing.

"We expect traditional on these occasions assistance from local law enforcement and relevant agencies in the host country as to ensuring security of the polling stations and the voters on the election day," the diplomat said.

She also said that 500 observers from the European security agency OSCE were expected to monitor the election, as well as observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States, the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

"We are ready for cooperation with all of them on the basis of Russian election legislation requirements," Zakharova went on to say.

She also mentioned certain problems. "We note with regret that not all the countries, including those that see themselves as democratic, meet us half-way as to ensuring a free expression of the will of our citizens," she said.

According to Zakharova "unlike in the previous years, Latvia and Estonia have not allowed Russia to arrange the voting outside the foreign missions".

"Vilnius is dragging feet on our request to open additional stations in the cities of compact settlement of Russian citizens," she said. "These are such states as Kaunas, Siauliai and others. We still have no response to our official note of November 16, 2017," the diplomat explained.

The Russian presidential election is scheduled to take place on March 18. A total of 15 contenders, including two independent ones and 13 candidates nominated by political parties, are currently taking part in the election campaign.