Russia requests police protection for embassy during Duma election

Russia requested police protection for its embassy in Vienna on the final day of the State Duma election, ORF reported. Heavily armed officers were deployed outside the building on Sunday, while protests remained peaceful and involved banners and posters.

Police also closed the section of Reisnerstrasse in front of the embassy, following a request made by the Russian Embassy in a note to Austria’s Foreign Ministry in early September. Officers from Vienna’s provincial office for state security and the prevention of extremism were also present.

An activist from Russians Against War Vienna told the Austrian Press Agency that the protest was intended to show that, regardless of the result, the election did not represent what Russians were choosing. She pointed to the exclusion of opposition candidates, including candidates from permitted parties such as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

Voter numbers rose noticeably around noon, apparently following a call by Kremlin critics to vote against President Vladimir Putin at midday. Activists conducted exile polls outside the embassy’s main entrance on the section of Reisnerstrasse closed by police. Shortly before 1 p.m., they counted nearly 550 voters, compared with fewer than 300 an hour earlier.

The turnout was still well below the level recorded during the presidential election in March 2024, when Russians queued for hours across the embassy district. Official figures put the number of voters in Vienna at nearly 2,300. Most supported the relatively liberal candidate Vladislav Davankov, while Putin, who was re-elected in Russia, received 21 percent in Vienna.