Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin accused the Ukraine attempted interference with the election. According to him, Russian air defense intercepted more than 1,600 drones, 450 of which were heading directly towards the capital.
Russia announced increased attacks on the Ukrainian capital: In response to “the Kiev regime’s attacks on civilian targets in Russia,” the Russian army will continue its “high-precision attacks on military targets in Kyiv continue and intensify,” said the Defense Ministry in Moscow.
In the video | Ukraine lands a heavy hit
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Authorities report cyber attacks
The Russian authorities also reported massive cyber attacks on electronic voting infrastructure. The head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, spoke of more than 1,000 waves of so-called DDoS overload attacks in the past few days, according to reports from state news agencies on Sunday. She did not say who was responsible for the attacks.
During DDoS attacks, an IT system is overwhelmed with requests so that it is overloaded and, in the worst case, no longer functions. Pamfilova had already reported a “massive cyber attack” on Saturday. The attack therefore lasted the entire day without the systems failing.
It was the first parliamentary election in Russia since the Russian offensive against Ukraine in February 2022. For the Kremlin, the election was a mood barometer as the Ukraine war is increasingly having an impact on the Russian civilian population. The vote also took place in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
Is Putin calling for a new mobilization?
The Russian opposition in exile had called for people not to boycott the election, but rather to vote “against Putin’s party.” To this end, she published recommendations as to who should receive votes in which regions.
In front of the Russian embassy in Berlin Dozens of opposition supporters gathered on Sunday to protest against the Kremlin and the war in Ukraine. They shouted slogans such as “No to war” and “Russia will be free.”
There are fears in Russia that a new military mobilization could occur after the election, similar to that in 2022, when 300,000 reservists were called up. As a result, many men of military age left Russia. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had accused the Kremlin of starting a new mobilization “this fall.” Putin rejected this.
