The Russian Election Commission on Saturday denounced cyber attacks "
from abroad
" targeting its resources, on the second day of the legislative vote, for which the authorities put pressure on the internet giants.
Read alsoPutin locks the Duma elections
The poll, which is held until Sunday, comes after months of repression targeting the movement of the opponent Alexeï Navalny and his allies, who called on the Russians to "
vote smart
" by choosing the candidates in the best position to beat those of power.
Voting instructions
On Saturday, the electoral authorities claimed to have suffered “
three cyberattacks
” organized “
from foreign countries
”.
According to an official of the Electoral Commission, Alexandre Sokoltchouk, two targeted the resources of the website of the commission and a third tried to overload it by denial of service.
"
The attack was quite powerful,
" he said, quoted by Russian news agencies, assuring that other attacks were "in
preparation
" for Sunday, the main day of the vote, which also takes place in part in line.
He did not specify which countries were accused of the attack.
The Russian opposition accused the US internet giants Google and Apple on Friday of "
censorship
" after the removal of a mobile election application that aimed to give voting instructions to Russians.
The authorities have been working for months to block access to these voting instructions developed by Alexeï Navalny, bête noire of the Kremlin, currently imprisoned and whose organizations have been classified as "
extremists
".
Read alsoRussian legislative: Telegram in turn removes Navalny's voting instructions
According to the list of violations maintained by the voter rights NGO Golos, more than 2,700 irregularities were reported to the second day of the vote, including ballot stuffing and pressure to vote.
Almost no candidate opposed to the policies of President Vladimir Putin has been allowed to stand for these legislative elections, which the ruling United Russia party, however very unpopular, should unsurprisingly win.
