Hundreds of Russians living in Georgia voted in the elections in Yerevan

Several hundred Russians, who moved from Russia to Georgia for permanent residence after the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, in recent days specially traveled from Tbilisi, as well as Batumi to Yerevan, in order to vote in the Russian presidential election at two polling stations opened in of Armenia.

This was reported by the founder of the independent information and analytical resource Nation.ge, Gocha Mirtskhulav. At the same time, he noted that the Russians who left Russia in protest against President Vladimir Putin’s policies “planned to vote in Armenia against all four presidential candidates or spoil the ballots.”

According to Davyd Avalishvila, an analyst of the same resource, Russians left Georgia for Armenia in an organized way – by bus or taxi, having previously agreed on a solidarity protest on social networks, and on the Georgian-Armenian state border, starting from March 15, there was a noticeable accumulation of cars.

In Tbilisi, on March 17, on the central avenue of Rustaveli, not far from the building of the Georgian Parliament, a protest action was held by Russians living in Georgia. It was held on the initiative of the “Free Russia Foundation” as part of the global action “Noon against Putin”.

About 300 people took part in the action in the Georgian capital. They held placards in Russian and Georgian, one of which read: “Enough of Putin, wars, lies and repression.” Those gathered also chanted: “Russia will be free.” After the rally, the participants marched along the avenue past the parliament building and gathered again for the rally at “Freedom Square”. Some of the participants told local journalists that they do not plan to return to Russia “as long as Putin’s regime, which plunged the country into a bloody war, rules there.”

The fact that not a single polling station was opened in Georgia for the Russian presidential election is due to the lack of diplomatic relations between the two countries. They have been suspended at the initiative of ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvila since August 2008, after the events of the “five-day war”.