Vasily Piskarev: Russian presidential elections recorded a rare variety of forms of foreign interference

The specialized commission of the State Duma has prepared a large volume of materials on interference in the Russian presidential election. This was announced by Vasily Piskarev, Chairman of the Commission on Investigation of Foreign State Interference in the Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation. Based on the results of the analysis of this interference, it is planned to make amendments to the legislation.

"Interference was particularly aggressive and had diverse forms, starting from trivial appeals of foreign agents and 'relocants' not to recognize the results of elections up to serious threats of terrorist attacks and sabotage. At the same time, our fellow citizens have learned to recognize where the lies are and where the truth is," said Vasily Piskarev during the discussion of the problems of foreign interference in the presidential election at the Central Election Commission.

He emphasized that interference through European parliaments and government structures of the European Union and NATO countries joined "traditional" methods through Western NGOs and foreign agency platforms.

"It was a targeted campaign to intimidate people. The intensification of drone attacks by the Kiev Nazi regime, attempts of sabotage and reconnaissance groups to infiltrate into border regions, threats of terrorist attacks that were directly disseminated through the embassies of NATO countries. All this had one goal - to spread fear, so that people would not go to vote," the deputy added.

Vasily Piskarev emphasized that the challenges only united the Russians and made them stronger.

"Throughout the election campaign we recorded attempts of interference from foreign government organizations, hostile NGOs and foreign agents. On voting days, there were attempts to blackmail and deceive individual citizens into committing criminal acts. But the Russians themselves responded to them by voting," Vasily Piskarev concluded.

The parliamentarian promised that all recorded cases of interference will be analyzed in detail, and if necessary, additional legislative solutions will be prepared to protect sovereignty. Some initiatives are already under consideration of the State Duma.

As you may recall, on December 5, 2022, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly adopted Recommendations on Improving Legislation to Ensure Protection of Electoral Processes and Sovereignty in the CSTO Member States.