KALININGRAD, March 6 Five points where Russian citizens who live in countries neighboring the Kaliningrad region will be able to vote and will work in border areas near border crossings, three of them are special buses, said Oleg Bayazitov, secretary of the Kaliningrad Regional Election Commission.
«For citizens who live on the territory of foreign states, we do not create areas there; in accordance with our decision, we have assigned powers to existing commissions, to five existing commissions,» Bayazitov said.
The agency's interlocutor clarified that one of the precinct commissions — in Sovetsk — will work as usual, from 8.00 (9.00 Moscow time) to 20.00 (21.00 Moscow time). It will be possible to vote there with documents confirming Russian citizenship.
In Bagrationovsk, at the Grzechotki border crossing, a special stationary point will be opened for Russian citizens from abroad, which is located 50 meters from the border. It will be open from 9.00 to 18.00 local time. Polling stations will also operate in special buses. There will be three of them. One in Mamonovo and two in Chernyshevsky, where there is a pedestrian border crossing and a car one.
“These points operate on the principle of voting in remote areas and where there are no precinct election commissions. That is, a screen, a ballot box, trained members of the commission who are waiting for voters. All the attributes that should be there will be met. The only thing is the operating time — in connection with the fact that people do not sit on buses when it is still dark or when it becomes dark — time is limited,» Bayazitov said.
Bayazitov noted that Russian citizens living abroad will vote for the first time in the Kaliningrad region. There used to be sections at consulates, but now there are few of them.
«In terms of numbers, we cannot assume anything. If there are two people, that means we will give two people the opportunity to vote. If there are 200, 300, 500, that means there will be 200, 300, 500. This is an additional opportunity for our citizens who are heading to Kaliningrad region for the purpose of tourism, visiting relatives, a business trip, or purposefully voting,” Bayazitov said.