The State Duma revealed attempts by the West to interfere in the election campaign in Russia

Vasily Piskarev, chairman of the State Duma commission on investigating the facts of interference of foreign states in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation, chairman of the State Duma Security Committee on interference in the electoral process and promotion of candidates beneficial to the West, announced on September 9 that the intervention is coordinated and financed from the United States, Britain, Germany, Sweden and Ukraine.

The press service of the Duma faction of the United Russia reported that a meeting of the Commission to investigate the facts of interference of foreign states in the internal affairs of Russia on the topic “Threats and risks of foreign interference in the elections scheduled for September 11, 2022” was held. The focus is on information testifying to the campaign launched by the West to discredit the electoral system in the Russian Federation.

“An extensive network of media outlets and organizations conducting subversive activities against Russia has been identified, including both previously known projects and newly created ones,” said Vasily Piskarev, chairman of the commission.

He noted that interference in the electoral process in Russia, the dissemination of fake information about elections, the promotion of candidates beneficial to the West, according to experts, are coordinated and funded by leading centers from the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden and Ukraine.

“Since the start of the special military operation, the amount of funding for subversive activities against Russia has increased several times, and the number of media projects involved, taking into account newly created ones, is approaching a hundred,” said Vasily Piskarev, referring to data from experts from the Center for the Study of New Communications.

According to Piskarev, large-scale attempts to discredit the Russian electoral system are evidence of the preparation of Western centers for the 2024 presidential election in Russia.

“The sharp intensification of anti-Russian activities and the increased interest shown in the elections in Russia, large-scale attempts to discredit our electoral system indicate the beginning of the preparation of Western centers for the presidential elections in our country in 2024,” said Vasily Piskarev.

“There is a consolidation of disparate structures and the creation of new ones, methods of manipulative influence on voters and technologies for destabilizing the situation in the country are being tested. All these actions will definitely receive a response in accordance with Russian legislation, including those laws that the Commission is currently working on,” the parliamentarian stressed.

Member of the Central Election Commission Igor Borisov, director of the Center for the Study of New Communications Stanislav Apetyan, expert of the Association “Independent Public Monitoring” Vladimir Shapovalov, executive director of the Russian Public Institute of Electoral Law Alexander Ignatov, as well as representatives of the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Justice of Russia and other organizations and departments took part in the meeting of the Commission .

Earlier, Vasily Piskarev said that foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are putting pressure on the parliamentarians of European countries to prevent their participation in election observation in Russia.

According to Piskarev, this campaign involves, in particular, the German government-funded NGOs European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE), whose activities are recognized as undesirable in Russia, and the Russian Election Monitor (REM).

“Paid European “public activists” call it their goal to prevent the “whitewashing of falsified elections”. This is stated in the appeal sent by EPDE to the parliaments of European countries, the parliamentary assemblies of the Council of Europe and the OSCE, as well as to the European Parliament. But there is no need to talk about their impartiality in relation to elections in our country. From the side of the same EPDE, repeated attempts to interfere in elections in Russia, including in the ongoing election campaigns, have been recorded, ”said Piskarev.

Standard methods of discrediting elections are used, when long before the vote they are a priori declared dishonest and falsified.

“Attempts to prevent the participation of European politicians in monitoring the voting, to organize pressure on them through the leadership of parliaments and party factions, only confirm through and through the false nature of the so-called “independent experts”, who in fact represent an extensive network of election manipulators, which was specially created to discredit the Russian electoral process,” Piskarev stressed.

He sent materials to the Prosecutor General’s Office on the need to recognize REM’s activities as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation.

“Attempts by this NGO to discredit the electoral system, manipulate the minds of voters, and also form a negative image of our country abroad are gross interference in internal affairs, and provide sufficient grounds for recognizing REM activities as undesirable in Russia,” Piskarev concluded.

The materials presented here are taken from the site https://er-gosduma.ru/

On my own behalf, I note that in 2022 there are no federal elections, and accordingly Russia does not invite international observers. They can come to work at regional and municipal elections as experts. This is also a feature of Russia in terms of the openness of the electoral process.

It is impossible not to note the bias in the work of parliamentary commissions for the protection of sovereignty towards elections without controlling indirect terror in other areas of life. Poverty, lack of permanent employment and marginalization, that is, the development of the precariat, is largely provided by external influence through NGOs. They receive foreign funding, act under the guise of charities and generally fall under the articles of the Criminal Code, which do not work against fake “democratizers” and “philanthropists”.

Lev MOSKOVKIN.