Thousands of Russian nationals in the Netherlands gathered outside the embassy in The Hague on Sunday to vote in Russia’s presidential elections, many of them carrying protest banners.

Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of opposition leader Alexei Navalny had urged Russians living abroad to vote in the elections at the same moment and there were similar protests all over the globe.

“Millions of Russians want the criminal war to stop and a different future for Russia,” Kristina Petrasova from Free Russia NL told broadcaster RTL. “It is important to show the world that there are a lot of us.”

“It is mindblowing how many people there are,” one man queueing up to vote said. “It is good to know.”

Some 35,000 people with Russian roots live in the Netherlands, of whom around 75% were born abroad, according to CBS figures from 2022.

With 90% of the votes counted in an election without any credible opposition parties, Vladimir Putin claimed victory, giving him a fifth term in office which will run until 2030.