Russians in Helsinki flock to embassy to vote in Presidential election

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The cold wind did not prevent Russian citizens in Helsinki from showing up in large numbers at the Russian Embassy to cast ballots in Sunday's Presidential election.
     When asked, most of those voting said that they planned to vote for Dmitri Medvedev. Some of those who did not specify a preference nevertheless praised Medvedev, and outgoing President Vladimir Putin.
     
The Embassy used a bigger room for the procedure than that which had been allocated for the Parliamentary elections in December. In that election, just over 1,700 Russian citizens living in Finland took part.
     The total number of Russians living in Finland is more than 25,000.
     In addition to Helsinki, there were Russian polling stations est up in three other Finnish cities - Turku in the southwest, Lappeenranta in the southeast, and Mariehamn, in the Åland Islands.
     
The Embassy predicted correctly that the Presidential election would attract more voters than the Parliamentary vote - even though Medvedev's election was seen as a foregone conclusion.
     
"We were born in Russia, and we still have children and relatives living there. We are voting so that they might have a better life", said Antonina Panchesnaya, a Russian citizen with a Finnish ethnic background. She arrived at the Embassy with her husband Sergei.
     The two, who run a cleaning company, have lived in Finland for 15 years. They have nevertheless kept their Russian citizenship, in order to avoid the "fuss with visas".
     
But can Putin and Medvedev really govern together, as they have suggested that they will.
      "Two heads are better", said Sergei Panchesnyi.
      "They are a good team", said two 30-year-olds, Tatyana Melnikova and Ilya Melnikov, who had come from Vuosaari to vote, taking with them their three-year-old son Daniel. The two have lived in Finland for six years. Daniel was born in Kotka.
     
"During the time of Putin Russia has risen rapidly, and social security has also improved", Tatyana Melnikova insisted.
     The Melnikovs say that they follow Russian news on the Internet and on Russia's RTV television channel and Channel 1 on cable TV.

More on this subject:
 Vanhanen: Russian election a strong mandate for status quo

Previously in HS International Edition:
  OSCE not sending election monitors to Russia (8.2.2008)
  Poll: Finns wary of prospect of Putin staying in Russian leadership (4.1.2008)

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