Today, Russians in Serbia are heading to the polls to cast their vote and protest against what many see as a sham presidential election. A polling station in the capital Belgrade opened this morning at 8am, but many decided to turn up at ‘Noon against Putin’, a protest called by the late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny.
Tens of thousands of Russians have settled in Serbia since the start of the war in Ukraine. Like millions of other Russian exiles around the world, they are eligible to vote in this weekend’s polls—which are almost certain to hand Vladimir Putin another six years in power. With no credible opponent and only one possible result, I asked Russians why they are bothering to show up at the polls.
Most young, opposition-minded Russians who turned up today know that the result of this election is a foregone conclusion. Putin is set to enter his fifth six-year term, keeping him in power to at least 2030.
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