Yle: Putin polled only at around 10 percent among Russians residing in Finland
While Vladimir Putin secured a fifth term in office as Russia's president following elections at the weekend, only around a tenth of Russian citizens resident in Finland voted for him, public broadcaster Yle reports.
Yle cited data from an online exit poll; the figure reflects the lower level of support Putin gets among more educated emigree Russians, or indeed among those in the three largest cities inside Russia itself: Moscow, St Petersburg and Novosibirsk.
According to official figures at the time of writing, Putin took 87 percent of the vote in an elections which has been condemned by many western nations as a sham, and neither free nor fair.
Putin faced no credible opposition due to the Kremlin's tight control over Russia's political system.
In Finland, emigree Russians were permitted to vote at the embassy in Helsinki; results there announced Monday evening painted quite a different picture: Putin received a little under a third of the vote among this demographic, compared with 45.3 percent for opposition leader Vladislav Davankov, chair of the New People party.
A total of 3,384 people voted at the Russian Embassy in Helsinki on Sunday, Yle reports.
Strong support for the opposition among Russians in Finland was also highlighted by the very long queue outside the polling station at the Russian Embassy at around midday on Sunday.
Opponents of Putin's rule had called on supporters to fill polling at about noon on Sunday, both in Russia and abroad, as a sign of protest.
Official figures also showed that 649 of the 3,447 ballot papers cast in Helsinki were spoiled ballots, a tactic considered by Russians as a form of protest.
The Russian Embassy in Helsinki was the only polling station available to Russian citizens during this presidential election. At the 2018 presidential election, there had been three other polling stations open, in Turku, Lappeenranta and Mariehamn.
In countries neighboring Finland, 14 percent in Sweden reported voting for Putin, while just 8 percent said they did so in Estonia.
Further afield, the results varied widely, perhaps reflecting the types of Russian citizens who choose to live in liberal, wealthier northern European states, compared with those who opt for the sunshine.
Yle reported that 59 percent of Russian citizens in Greece said they voted for Putin, compared with just 2 percent in the Netherlands, for instance.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: Yle
