Russia Reports 'Powerful' Cyberattacks on Parliamentary Vote — SkimNews
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- Moscow's electronic voting system was hit by a 'powerful' cyberattack overnight between Friday and Saturday during the second day of Russia's three-day parliamentary election, with the attack still continuing, Interfax news agency reported.
- Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia's Central Election Commission, told reporters Saturday the Moscow system was under 'very powerful attack, literally non-stop, all night long,' but said the electronic voting system is still operating normally and gave no details on who was responsible.
- Putin accused Ukraine on Friday of trying to 'hinder' the vote; Kyiv has not responded and has called the election 'farcical,' while Moscow's mayor reported more than 350 Ukrainian drones targeted the Russian capital on Friday morning.
- The State Duma election runs until 18:00 GMT Sunday and is Russia's first since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with most antiwar candidates excluded — the Supreme Court ruled last month that the liberal Yabloko party, which wants a ceasefire, had breached electoral rules.
- Nationwide turnout stood at 32.58 percent as of 14:00 local time Saturday, according to CEC data cited by state media, and the governing pro-Putin United Russia party is widely expected to maintain its dominance in the tightly controlled political system.
Why it matters: With United Russia expected to dominate and antiwar voices like Yabloko already removed from the ballot before voting began, the cyberattacks and 350-drone strike function less as genuine threats to the outcome and more as politically charged disruption attempts against an election the Kremlin is using to gauge public support for the war.
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