Sunday outside the Russian Embassy in Riga, Russia’s so-called Duma elections barely registered.
State Police say they checked 290 Russian citizens who came to vote — 0.8% of eligible Russian citizens in Latvia. Border Guard worked the gate alongside them. By 14:00, Interior Minister Jānis Dombrava already had 164 of that day’s eventual total on the board.
Dombrava called the interest negligible. He also claimed the embassy was letting people in one at a time, cooking a small queue for the cameras. That’s his read — the headcount is the police number.
Cops say no violations. Public order held. Barriers, a thin line at the gate, neon jackets on the sidewalk. Same Riga that just saw a VDD detention over Ukraine-supplier threats and Namejs checkpoints humming through the city.
Latvia’s MFA put the diplomatic stamp on the wider play: Riga does not recognize purported Duma voting in occupied Ukraine, Transnistria, Abkhazia, or South Ossetia. No legitimacy wash from here.
Two hundred ninety. Point eight percent. The embassy got its polling station. Riga mostly stayed home.
