Moscow election officials on Thursday said they found no evidence of wrongdoing in online voting in parliamentary elections after a technical recount of the votes. “The election observation headquarters in Moscow did not find any traces of hacking or ballot stuffing in online voting,” the head of the group Alexei Venediktov said on the Telegram messaging app. Russia’s opposition raised

Apple and Google have deleted jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s apps from their online stores after Russian authorities threatened jail time for their employees, Navalny’s aides said Friday. The move comes as voting gets underway in parliamentary elections overshadowed by an unprecedented crackdown on the opposition. The Navalny app contained recommendations for its supporters to cast their ballots in favor

Just a few weeks are left until the Russian legislative election. However, instead of pre-election staples – political debates, analysis of party programmes and similar introspection – the airwaves in Russia are filled with harrowing (and false) stories about the US and Afghanistan. With some exceptions though. Recently a number of Russian officials and pundits have claimed that the West

Russian media published an audio leak Tuesday that they say shows a ruling pro-Kremlin party official instructing poll watchers to ignore voter fraud at the upcoming election. The United Russia party, which was founded by President Vladimir Putin and consistently backs his initiatives, is seeking to maintain its lower-house majority in the Sept. 17-19 parliamentary elections despite its historic unpopularity. The

A leaked audio recording published by the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper on Thursday has revealed alleged efforts to coordinate “falsification” of votes in Russia’s upcoming parliamentary elections. Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) on Friday announced it has launched a rapid-response inquiry into the recording. According to Novaya Gazeta, the recording was made by an unnamed participant in a training session

Russia said Thursday that Google and Apple’s refusal to remove jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s app ahead of elections could be seen as interference in the country’s domestic affairs. The country is holding parliamentary elections later this month, with nearly all vocal Kremlin critics including Navalny’s allies barred from running. Last month Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor demanded that Google and

Russia on Wednesday declared an independent election monitor a “foreign agent,” one month before a parliamentary election in which President Vladimir Putin’s unpopular United Russia party is expected to struggle. Created in 2000, Golos had notably denounced election rigging in the 2011 parliamentary election and the 2012 presidential vote which saw Putin return to the Kremlin.  The Russian Justice Ministry included

With State Duma elections fast approaching, Russia’s unpopular ruling party is once again turning to Vladimir Putin. United Russia has a problem. One recent poll puts the party’s support at 27% — the lowest level for the last 13 years. This is hardly ideal with elections to the State Duma taking place between 17 and 19 September. How will the