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20260920 180000 UTC
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[00:00:00] the support of more than 100 million
[00:00:04] of voters in the race for 450
[00:00:07] seats, who will fail and who
[00:00:10] will
[00:00:11] prevail?
[00:00:22] of
[00:00:24] of Russia's first
[00:00:27] parliamentary election since the beginning. the Ukraine conflict
[00:00:31] wrap up and the counting
[00:00:33] of the votes begins. We're bringing you our special coverage as the
[00:00:37] world's geographically biggest country
[00:00:39] of has its democratic say. Moscow says Kiev
[00:00:43] tried to undermine the elections with a massive attack as almost
[00:00:47] 2,000 drones and missiles were intercepted
[00:00:50] in a single day. The targeted assault on the Russian capital left
[00:00:54] several people death. And that is
[00:00:58] my vote, one of tends. of
[00:01:00] me millions being cast around the don bass, but with every
[00:01:04] vote cast in the don bass, the people
[00:01:07] of the donbas show, but those threats don't
[00:01:11] scare
[00:01:12] of them. Russians cast their ballots despite threats and daily
[00:01:16] shelling from Ukraine. That's as the
[00:01:18] in Kiev regime insists elections cannot be held during
[00:01:21] wartime. Nevertheless, Russians ventured out to the polls,
[00:01:25] including near the front lines and in other border regions.
[00:01:29] Generally. speaking, it is very difficult to
[00:01:32] of intimidate me, it's just not in my nature.
[00:01:35] of firstly, i don't recognize the landscate all and i don't watch him on tv. as for
[00:01:39] scammers, they've already left me
[00:01:41] of alone. we have lived too long to be
[00:01:45] of intimidated.
[00:01:57] in this has been the third and final day of voting in Russia. as
[00:02:00] parliamentary elections. Pols have just closed in the country's
[00:02:04] western most region
[00:02:05] of and the first preliminary results are expected a bit later
[00:02:09] a
[00:02:09] of tonight. of RT has been keeping
[00:02:10] a close tab on the developmentts bringing you all the latest
[00:02:14] of updates as part of our
[00:02:15] of special
[00:02:15] coverage.
[00:02:20] of
[00:02:27] As voting in the nationwide
[00:02:29] of parliamentary of election. wraps up, the scale
[00:02:31] of the process, which spans across
[00:02:33] of 11 time zones, has been immense, with voter turnout
[00:02:37] surpassing 56%. Russian citizens have
[00:02:41] exercised their constitutional right to define their future for the
[00:02:44] next five years. In the country's new regions, more than four
[00:02:48] million residents have cast their
[00:02:50] of ballots early elections. In the frontline Republics of
[00:02:54] Doniesk and Lugansk, people under the threat of
[00:02:56] of attack could not be deterred and
[00:02:58] in voted. Locals. from one
[00:03:00] of the most iconic regions of Russia, Crimea, actively
[00:03:04] participated in choosing their
[00:03:08] of representatives. Oh, let's cross now to RT correspondent, Isabella Bloombburg, joining us from
[00:03:12] our
[00:03:12] in studio just outside the Kremlin, Isabella, thank you for joining
[00:03:16] us, give us more details on who has been in the
[00:03:19] race. Thank
[00:03:23] you, Nicki, well, it's 9 p.m. here in the Russian capital and polling
[00:03:27] stations on now
[00:03:28] of closed nationwide. in Russia
[00:03:30] of on the third and final day of parliamentary elections. The
[00:03:34] Central Electoral Commission reports that um the
[00:03:38] overall turnout has surpassed the 2021 election,
[00:03:42] reaching
[00:03:43] a over
[00:03:44] of 56% voter turn out. It's also quite important I think to
[00:03:48] mention here that these are the first parliamentary elections we're seeing since the start
[00:03:51] of the special military
[00:03:53] of operation which was launched back in February
[00:03:56] a 2022 and for the first time in modern Russian history we're seeing citizens from the four.
[00:04:00] regions in the SMO zone cast their vallet as Russian
[00:04:03] of citizens as well, so let me
[00:04:05] of just take you through how the parliamentary elections actually
[00:04:09] work, because the Russian state doomer is the lower chamber
[00:04:15] of of of the federal assembly consisting of 400 seats uh those seats are divided into two uh these
[00:04:19] of parliamentary elections as well take
[00:04:20] of place every five years
[00:04:23] of uh the first 250 seats
[00:04:24] of are selected through party list now what that means is that the voters are
[00:04:28] able to uh cast their
[00:04:31] of ballot and vote for a specific political
[00:04:33] a party, the other 250 seats are determined through single mandate
[00:04:37] districts. now this
[00:04:38] of means that voters are able to select a specific candidate in that
[00:04:42] constituency, but for a political party to actually get through
[00:04:46] to the state doomer, political party has to acquire or meet
[00:04:50] of that of 5% threshhold. voting in Russia um takes
[00:04:54] place in this three-day window instead of a traditional one-day window, starting on
[00:04:58] September the 18th and ending today. on Sunday on September
[00:05:02] the 20th. There
[00:05:03] in are currently 10 political parties on the federal
[00:05:05] of ballot, first one being United Russia founded in
[00:05:09] 2001, a party that has enjoyed constitutional
[00:05:12] majority in the duma. the second party we have is the communist
[00:05:16] party the Russian federation considered the oldest on the ballot and
[00:05:20] also the second largest faction in the duma. we have a
[00:05:23] just Russia party founded in 2006. Paul suggests it will be able to
[00:05:27] meet the 5% threshhold during these elections as well.
[00:05:31] and of course we have the LDPR, the Liberal Democratic Party of
[00:05:35] Russia now chaired by Leonard Slotski after the death of its
[00:05:39] former charismatic leader Vladimir Zarinovski back in 2020.
[00:05:43] Of course we have new party on the scene here, relatively new, it was
[00:05:47] founded in 2020 and it actually curiously managed to
[00:05:50] garna 5% the vote during those previous el elections, it will be quite
[00:05:54] interesting to see whether they will be able to uh pass that thresh hold
[00:05:58] during these elections as well, and then of course we have the
[00:06:01] non-parliamentary parties here as well, including the greens,
[00:06:05] the rodina, pensioners party, the communists of Russia and the
[00:06:08] party of direct democracy, you as of now we'll be keeping our
[00:06:12] eyes peeled on the central electoral commission's you know
[00:06:16] um preliminary results? thank you
[00:06:20] as we know as people spent the whole weekend going out to to cast
[00:06:23] their ballots there was a huge
[00:06:27] attack by Ukraine, the Russian defense ministry described it as
[00:06:31] attempt by Kiev sabotage the elections, what more can you tell us about
[00:06:35] this? I mean absolutely Nikki,
[00:06:39] as you've just been saying overnight Moscow and the nearby regions... came
[00:06:42] under what officials are calling one the largest Ukrainian drone attacks
[00:06:46] since the start the war between Russia and Ukraine. now Moscow
[00:06:50] says that overnight 450 drones were intercepted
[00:06:54] and those drones were apparently
[00:06:55] you know headed to Moscow. the the Russian Mod has
[00:06:59] reported that um over
[00:07:01] 1,950 drones and aerial targets were also
[00:07:05] intercepted across a Russian territory this over the course of
[00:07:08] 24 hours. you know the Mod says that this was a...
[00:07:12] deliberate attempt by Kiev to undermine Russia's parliamentary
[00:07:16] elections. to undermine
[00:07:20] the democratic will the citizens the Russian Federation, as
[00:07:24] expressed in the elections to the state Duma the Federal Assembly
[00:07:27] the Russian Federation. The Kiev regime launched a massive
[00:07:31] attack on the territory the Russian Federation on September
[00:07:34] 19th and 20th of this year, using UAVs and
[00:07:38] Flamingo cruise missiles. In response to the Kiev regime's attempt.
[00:07:42] on civilian targets on Russian territory, the armed forces the Russian
[00:07:46] Federation will intensify their strikes with high precision
[00:07:50] weapons against military targets in
[00:07:52] Kieve. In terms of casualties and
[00:07:56] damages, in the Moscow and nearby regions, two people have been
[00:07:59] killed, and 20 required medical assistance, three them
[00:08:03] being children, and emit this drone attack, the central electoral
[00:08:06] commission reported that one of its staff members was actually injured in the
[00:08:10] Moscow region, and it's not just... moscow and the nearby regions because
[00:08:14] Kieve has been actively targeting civilians in the special
[00:08:18] military operation zone. For example, a Ukrainian drone hit
[00:08:21] a school in Zaparogia region, a polling station was
[00:08:25] apparently inside. Fortunately, no casualties were reported
[00:08:28] there, but then we also saw another attack in the HSON region where a
[00:08:32] Ukrainian drone targeted passenger bus there, kill
[00:08:36] - two people were killed that, including woman working a
[00:08:40] local polling station. Again, I think it's rather important to
[00:08:44] point out to underline the fact that Kief has been ramping up these
[00:08:47] drone strikes, these drone attacks on not just civilians
[00:08:50] but also civilian infrastructure as Russians are heading to the
[00:08:54] final to to vote in the final
[00:09:10] stations were open in Russian embassies to. in many locations for
[00:09:13] citizens who are currently abroad. Here are some pictures from locations
[00:09:17] around the world from Armenia to the UAE. Russian voters are
[00:09:21] also showing up to cast their ballots in EU countries. Some these
[00:09:25] expatriates say it's important to express their position issues, even
[00:09:29] if they live
[00:09:30] abroad. We must
[00:09:34] always express our civic stands, regardless the situation in the
[00:09:37] world or in our country. But right now, in 2026, it
[00:09:41] seems to me that the...
[00:10:12] government's actions, which I believe most of us view as positive a very
[00:10:16] complicated international geopolitical situation, and the Russian government
[00:10:20] isn't doing a bad job at all. I
[00:10:24] believe in French. "I want
[00:10:25] the two nations to be friends. My wife,
[00:10:28] for example, is German, and I'm Russian. Why are there so many Russians
[00:10:31] here? 9 million Russian speakers, because our families are
[00:10:35] mixed. I believe we all can live in
[00:10:37] harmony. And these are images from
[00:10:41] several countries in Southeast Asia where Russian citizens have been
[00:10:45] gathering to vote. Several hundred people are expected to attend
[00:10:49] each the polling stations set up in Thailand, Indonesia, the
[00:10:52] Philippines and Laos. This has explained. they wanted to exercise their
[00:10:56] democratic rights despite being thousands of kilometers away from
[00:10:59] home. for me these days very
[00:11:03] important for our country and we uh from my
[00:11:07] point of view every russian citizen should
[00:11:10] vote for their future. i think it's really
[00:11:14] important to take part in this election cuz
[00:11:16] like uh we need to express
[00:11:20] our opinion and yeah
[00:11:23] this is really important. for as a first time like
[00:11:27] voting here, it is really important for Russian people
[00:11:30] abroad to take part in these
[00:11:33] elections, as it is very
[00:11:37] about to express fair will, a political
[00:11:41] will uh so that community in Russia, Russia
[00:11:45] people and international community would
[00:11:48] know our political will,
[00:11:51] our uh willing to participate in to...
[00:12:25] Despite the threat posed by Ukraine, people say they're determined that their
[00:12:29] voices will be heard. The head the Doniesk Republican has cast his
[00:12:32] vote a local polling station, noting that he met quite a few
[00:12:36] people who wanted to vote in their first state doomer election.
[00:12:40] Artisse Murab Gazdier reports on how
[00:12:42] the vote is being held under wartime
[00:12:44] conditions. Across two continents
[00:12:48] and 11 time zones under ceaseless threat of
[00:12:51] attack, Russians vote for their new part.
[00:13:05] In their millions, despite constant threats
[00:13:09] from Ukraine, threats of prosecution and
[00:13:13] persecution, just for booty, attacks on
[00:13:17] pouling stations, fakes and Ukrainian
[00:13:20] propaganda. Yesterday and the day before
[00:13:23] leaflets were dropped. by drones across most of our
[00:13:26] region, containing calls to block the electoral process
[00:13:30] and urging people not to participate in the
[00:13:32] elections. every day we are seeing a steady stream of two
[00:13:36] or three disinformation campaigns coming from the Ukrainian side,
[00:13:40] along with deep fakes and forged administrative documents,
[00:13:44] yet few are afraid, people are used to
[00:13:47] drones and missiles, verbal threats no
[00:13:51] longer carry the same weight. tell me, have you been
[00:13:55] intimidated? did Zelensky threaten you saying you shouldn't go to these
[00:13:59] elections? no way, he can't do
[00:14:02] anything. of course not, generally speaking it
[00:14:06] is very difficult to intimidate me, it's just not in my
[00:14:09] nature. god forbid. firstly, i don't recognize the
[00:14:12] landscape at all and i don't watch him on tv. as for scammers,
[00:14:16] they've already left me alone. we have lived too long to be
[00:14:20] intimidated. and that
[00:14:23] is my vote. of tens of millions being cast
[00:14:27] around the donbas an environment where people are
[00:14:31] actively being threatened, where electoral
[00:14:34] officials are receiving death threats, their families, their
[00:14:38] children, but with every vote cast in the don
[00:14:42] bass, the people the donbas show
[00:14:46] that those threats don't scare them, not even
[00:14:50] strongly worded statements and condemnation
[00:14:53] could stop these election. At today's meeting, the central
[00:14:57] electoral commission adopted resolution declaring that the organization and
[00:15:01] conduct of elections for deputies to the state duma the Russian Federation
[00:15:05] in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine are illegitimate.
[00:15:09] It is, of course, ironic that Ukraine forbids
[00:15:12] Ukrainians from voting in these Russian
[00:15:15] elections, because neither does it allow Ukrainians
[00:15:19] themselves, any elections? They're too dangerous,
[00:15:23] says the former president.
[00:15:27] Elections as such are huge risk, elections right now are a tsunami
[00:15:31] which could split Ukraine, again the irony,
[00:15:34] Ukraine professes to be fighting for freedom. and democracy,
[00:15:38] but says elections are too dangerous. Russia,
[00:15:42] which Kiv accuses of aggression and tyranny, holds elections
[00:15:46] even in war. He's holding elections in
[00:15:49] September. He needs a united society that will support his united
[00:15:53] Russia. Zelensky, on the other hand, doesn't need
[00:15:57] his society support, his term expired two years
[00:16:01] ago, and no one can do anything about
[00:16:04] it. He already controls all Ukrainian
[00:16:08] media, all newspapers and online publications,
[00:16:11] full spectrum propaganda, anyone who
[00:16:15] criticizes him, can be sanctioned, Ukrainian or
[00:16:18] otherwise, else sent a one way trip to
[00:16:22] the frontlines, so elections, you want elections as
[00:16:26] soon as ready to do it tomorrow, but if we have the war,
[00:16:30] it's you can't do it, what elections, how to make elections with the
[00:16:34] 9 million people who are abroad, and what to do with a...
[00:16:38] people who are temporary or live in
[00:16:41] temporary occupied territories. Europe, of course, will bend over
[00:16:45] backwards to accommodate Zelenski. Kaya
[00:16:49] Calas, the EU's diplomatic figure head, is
[00:16:52] never won to overthink it, simple and
[00:16:56] cliche is her style. Putin hasn't had
[00:16:59] elections or Russia hasn't had elections in 25 years.
[00:17:03] Zelensky is elected leader, elected in the
[00:17:07] free. fair elections and of course during the wartime you
[00:17:10] can't have elections Zelensky's corrupt ministers, his
[00:17:14] army heads simply don't mind, so long
[00:17:18] as the EU supports Zelensky, the aid money
[00:17:22] pours in and it can be divided up and
[00:17:26] shared around between friends. The only concern
[00:17:30] is the people of Ukraine forced brutally to
[00:17:34] fight a war they don't want to fight in by.
[00:17:37] president they don't want, blasted by
[00:17:40] propaganda, they don't agree with, and there's
[00:17:44] nothing they can do about it, but
[00:17:46] daydream. We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism
[00:17:50] that will allow Ukraine to restore a full-fledged democratic process,
[00:17:54] even under the conditions of a prolonged war. This is difficult. We
[00:17:58] must guarantee the right to vote for our military, for millions of Ukrainians
[00:18:02] abroad, and for those in the frontline regions. We must ensure the
[00:18:06] security the electoral.
[00:18:41] love to hear as the counting is now underway, your overall
[00:18:44] impression the three-day
[00:18:46] votes, thank you, well I'm living
[00:18:50] a small rural area and
[00:18:53] people are here actively um using their right to cast the
[00:18:57] ballot and it's this
[00:19:01] morning after church I saw the elderly ladies
[00:19:05] casting their votes, some them did it the very first... day, I think most the
[00:19:08] elderly people did it really on Friday, so seen from the perspective
[00:19:12] of a rural region where I am currently staying,
[00:19:16] things are going on, despite the many, many drone
[00:19:19] alerts that we had, I think yesterday we had like five
[00:19:22] alerts, I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that some western
[00:19:26] countries have already said they refuse to recognize the
[00:19:29] results the elections even before the results have become
[00:19:33] made clear, what do what do you think about this overall?
[00:19:39] Well, it's more the same that we know from
[00:19:43] previous situations. I remember it's like
[00:19:46] 50 years ago the
[00:19:49] then OEC observers for the
[00:19:52] the organization of security and cooperation in Europe,
[00:19:56] despite all the monitoring that they had, despite
[00:20:00] the very professional cooperation that we had between the Russian authorities and
[00:20:04] the OSE, they said, well...
[00:20:07] elections were neither fair nor free etc.
[00:20:11] so from a Russian perspective, I think over the last decades you could do
[00:20:15] whatever you wanted, you could work closely with the OECE, you could
[00:20:19] send as, you could bring in as many parliamentarians
[00:20:23] academics who do
[00:20:27] monitoring the elections, the West is not
[00:20:30] happy. Moscow says that um Ukraine also launched about
[00:20:33] 2,00 drones and missiles during the last day of voting, well...
[00:20:37] Previously Kiyev had called for the Russian people to put pressure on their
[00:20:41] government. Why then disrupt the elections, which could
[00:20:45] actually change Russian politics? Yeah, this is a good
[00:20:48] question, I mean there's... logic and there's no rationality, as I often
[00:20:52] repeat myself in that kind of attitude, this
[00:20:56] today's attacks, if I correctly remember it was more than
[00:20:59] 1,600 thrones, the mayor of Moscow said the
[00:21:03] worst we have seen so far, I think it's all
[00:21:07] about uh spreading fear, people should stay at
[00:21:10] home, people should not make use the democratic rights and
[00:21:14] duties also as citizens, so it's it's
[00:21:18] all about spreading uneas
[00:21:21] and as we saw in your
[00:21:23] reporting, it didn't materialize,
[00:21:27] people went nevertheless to the police stations and
[00:21:31] and exercised their citizens rights and
[00:21:34] duties, you constantly hearing how Ukraine cannot
[00:21:38] hold elections, Zelensky cannot hold elections because it's a time of war,
[00:21:42] but we've seen Russia was able to do it, might this change the
[00:21:45] western perspective on whether the Kiev regime can refuse to hold an election.
[00:21:51] "well, we know from President Trump that he has been
[00:21:55] pushing, do elections, go for elections, and I think there are also some descenting
[00:21:58] voices among the EU 27, people are not
[00:22:02] buying it that easily, that you cannot hold elections, there were
[00:22:06] elections in countries during war times, whether it's in
[00:22:10] middle east countries, whether it's in the US, during the civil war in
[00:22:14] 19th century, that's what we hear even from several
[00:22:17] congressmen, so I think that..." Zelensky might
[00:22:21] have increasing problem with his argument that he can't
[00:22:25] do elections, because of course he
[00:22:28] can, it's all matter of organizing the
[00:22:32] registration uh because of because the many
[00:22:36] people that that emigrated that left Ukraine and
[00:22:39] that are now forced by the European Union to go back to Ukraine,
[00:22:43] plus of course you can vote from the Ukrainian
[00:22:46] consulate on wherever you are, so they they... have the
[00:22:50] electronic uh means, it's a matter of political
[00:22:53] will, and I would not exclude
[00:22:56] that maybe Donald Trump comes back with reminder the
[00:23:00] next few days and tells Zelensky, see, the Russians did the
[00:23:04] elections, I told you to do, please do, it could
[00:23:07] be, switching topics for moment now, because I
[00:23:11] really want to hear your thoughts on what we're seeing happen in
[00:23:14] Germany, the state of Mecklenburg, Western Pomerania
[00:23:18] also held elections today. exit polls are saying that the alternative for
[00:23:22] Germany opposition party is set to win, well the ruling party might not
[00:23:26] even get into the state parliament, what do you make of
[00:23:28] this? well the fringes are growing
[00:23:32] um and once federal in one region we
[00:23:36] had the far left and the other one the far right, so it's the
[00:23:40] fringes, this is what in
[00:23:44] history we called the viima situation, the fringes of
[00:23:47] growing, the center is weak. is eroding
[00:23:51] and the conservative party CDU, which
[00:23:55] might not even enter this one lanak as you just
[00:23:59] quoted, this is quite breaking news
[00:24:03] and I think that Chancelor
[00:24:06] Matz is not really
[00:24:10] looking for common ground within his party,
[00:24:14] because there are many of his party companions
[00:24:17] who are very unhappy with the fact that... he just is clinging to
[00:24:21] power um
[00:24:23] more elections to come and there are many people who might lose their
[00:24:27] mandates, their their positions, so I think
[00:24:31] Matz is playing uh tighter walk,
[00:24:34] which maybe he will not win. yeah, I think MTS said it
[00:24:38] himself, an absolute disaster. um, coming back to
[00:24:42] Russia, now well the the counting is underway, we're hoping to get a
[00:24:46] clearer picture of of how the votes have fallen in the coming few minutes and
[00:24:50] hours um, before the Russian elections, we know the United Russia
[00:24:54] party held over two-thirds the seats in the Russian Lower House of Parliament,
[00:24:57] what are your expectations from the vote at the
[00:24:59] moment? I don't want to do any
[00:25:03] predictions or crystal ball reading, but I think
[00:25:07] that the core electorate
[00:25:11] that each party is mobilizing has been mobilizing over
[00:25:14] the past few weeks, that this
[00:25:17] co-electorate will remains. so I don't
[00:25:21] see from my small perspective
[00:25:25] huge changes to happen,
[00:25:26] because I think each
[00:25:30] party managed to to mobilize its
[00:25:49] well Russian election. Authorities are currently counting the votes and the
[00:25:53] preliminary results after about 16% the ballots have been
[00:25:56] talleed is as follows: the ruling United
[00:26:00] Russia party is firmly in the lead um with
[00:26:04] the solid majority there, as you can see from this chart, the runner up is the
[00:26:07] communist party with almost 14%, and in third place is
[00:26:11] the liberal democratic party with a little over
[00:26:15] 9%. so that's how it's looking right now, let's get more
[00:26:18] details from our correspondent ala Khodriatsover, ala, good to
[00:26:22] see you, so we know where you are, you're at the central electoral commission in
[00:26:26] Moscow where the counting of votes has officially begun, tell
[00:26:30] us more information about the election. process
[00:26:38] state dumer elections have wrapped up and polling
[00:26:41] stations have now closed nationwide, including in
[00:26:44] Caliningrad uh, and well the voter turnout across the
[00:26:48] country reached
[00:26:49] 56.66%. At this point in
[00:26:53] time 15.72% of votes have been counted and
[00:26:57] the the preliminary results are now in, so let me just give you a quick
[00:27:01] breakdown of... the five leading parties, we begin with
[00:27:05] the all Russian political party, United Russia, which got the most
[00:27:09] votes, that is 57.54%.
[00:27:13] Then we have the Communist Party the Russian Federation, which is
[00:27:16] CPRF for short, and it got
[00:27:19] the second highest number of votes a selection, that is
[00:27:22] 13.84%. Then we have the Liberal Democratic Party of
[00:27:26] Russia or LDPR with
[00:27:28] over 9% of votes and the new people political...
[00:27:32] party uh in fourth place with over 8% of
[00:27:35] votes. the fifth on the list is the
[00:27:39] socialist political party, adjust Russia with over
[00:27:42] 5% the votes counted so far. now the
[00:27:46] leading three candidates for each individual constituency have now also
[00:27:50] been announced. importantly, there are
[00:27:52] 225 individual constituencies in Russia
[00:27:56] and 16 in the Russian capital alone, one
[00:27:59] candidate will be elected per constituency. Now in
[00:28:03] casting their vote for a specific candidate to represent their area
[00:28:07] in
[00:28:07] the state Duma, Russian citizens uh chose from between around
[00:28:11] seven eight candidates per area, and the total number of
[00:28:14] candidates making the federal lists across Russia is over
[00:28:18] 1,700 people. Now some of
[00:28:22] those candidates making the federal lists are independent and
[00:28:26] importantly uh in this election, federal federal
[00:28:29] lists also include veterans the special. military
[00:28:32] operation now across the country we had more than
[00:28:36] 90,000 polling stations open and that is of
[00:28:40] course over um well across three days over the past three
[00:28:44] days uh the total number of registered voter voters
[00:28:47] in Moscow is over 7 million 800,00
[00:28:51] people and nationwide that is over
[00:28:54] 111 million. now in the course of this
[00:28:57] election people have been able to cast the vote a variety of
[00:29:01] different ways. is both in person and online, some
[00:29:05] people of course who haven't been able to vote in person, they were able
[00:29:09] to vote from home as well, so there were many ways for people to
[00:29:13] participate, and it is worth noting that almost
[00:29:16] 400 thousand observers were present at these elections
[00:29:20] nationwide, and well with the polls now close and the
[00:29:24] preliminary results now in, we are awaiting the final
[00:29:28] results of this election, which will be announced by the central election
[00:29:31] commission by the 5th of October. Ala, thank you. Just
[00:29:35] give us a a broader picture of how the vote has gone over the
[00:29:39] past three days. We know about this unprecedented drone attack
[00:29:43] um on Russia by Kiev. Have there been any other provocations or
[00:29:47] disruptions that we know about? Well, when it comes
[00:29:51] to the elections themselves, they went smoothly and indeed they were held
[00:29:54] in full compliance with the law. We saw of course a high
[00:29:58] voter turnout, which is evidence of that, and there hasn't been a single.
[00:30:02] successful attack on the election process. there have been
[00:30:06] attempts however that we've seen over the past three days and we of
[00:30:10] course also seen continued intimidation of election commission
[00:30:13] members as well. and as we know or well uh today
[00:30:17] two people were killed in a drone attack a civilian bus in
[00:30:21] the Hirson region. one the victims was indeed member
[00:30:25] the precinct electoral commission in the Hirson region who was
[00:30:29] involved in uh the early conducting of
[00:30:32] in the conducting the early voting process in one of its
[00:30:36] electoral districts, and this was reported by the central election
[00:30:40] commission head, Ella Pomfilova. She of course also
[00:30:44] spoke in regards to cyber attacks, that is over
[00:30:47] 100 million uh dangers that were thorted over the past three
[00:30:51] days.
[00:30:55] Over the past period, more than waves of dedos attacks were recorded
[00:30:59] against.