Russia's Wartime Parliamentary Vote Ends With Irregularities Reported

Russia's first parliamentary election held during wartime drew to a close on Sunday, with voters forming queues at polling stations in Moscow even as opposition parties reported a series of irregularities and the country's election chief confirmed cyberattacks targeting the capital's electronic voting system.

Both Yabloko and the Communist Party, which has criticised some government policies while avoiding direct criticism of President Vladimir Putin, said many of their observers were denied access to polling stations. The parties reported violations including sealed ballot boxes being opened, polling station doors left unsecured overnight, and refusals to issue paper ballots. These claims could not be independently verified.

Yabloko said one of its observers lost consciousness while being detained by police at a St. Petersburg polling station on Saturday, after officials accused him of attempting to disrupt the vote and summoned law enforcement.

At a polling station in the Russian-held portion of the Donetsk region, voters cast their ballots in a box while an armed Russian soldier stood nearby and watched.

Ella Pamfilova, chairperson of Russia's Central Election Commission, said the electronic voting system in Moscow had been targeted by cyberattacks. She described the attackers as highly professional, well-coordinated groups employing artificial intelligence tools, and said the threat level was rated very high. She blamed one of the so-called systemic parties without specifying which one, while noting that no attacks had succeeded.

SotaVision, an independent Russian news outlet, reported that voters were encountering glitches in electronic registry systems at polling stations across Moscow. According to the outlet, people were not issued paper ballots and were instead directed to vote via electronic terminals.

Leonid Volkov, a close associate of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, suggested the breakdown of the paper ballot system in Moscow may have been deliberate, aimed at pushing voters toward electronic voting. Long lines formed outside polling stations as many voters declined to vote electronically.