[Regnum] Russian foreign institutions especially felt the “electronic war” from the West amid preparations for the country’s presidential elections abroad. This was stated by Ambassador at Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gennady Askaldovich at a meeting of the Federation Council commission on protecting state sovereignty and preventing interference in the internal affairs of Russia.
“The West is preparing and is already carrying out massive cyber attacks on the eve of the presidential elections, but the electoral system is showing resilience,” he said.
Askaldovich recalled that during the last municipal elections in 2023, according to the Central Election Commission, about 170 thousand cyber attacks were repelled in one day. The ambassador noted that the electoral system has proven to be resistant to external cyber influence, but this also shows how great the pressure is on Russia.
As Regnum reported, on February 14, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the number of calls from outside to disrupt the voting in the Russian presidential election has increased. A number of European countries and the United States have still not responded to the Russian side’s request for assistance in ensuring security, the diplomat added.
In February, Zakharova also said that Russia would harshly suppress any attempts by Western states to interfere in the elections. As the Foreign Ministry representative clarified, the West will use social networks and platforms to influence the process.
The Russian presidential elections will take place from March 15 to 17, 2024. Voters from the LPR, DPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions are taking part in voting in the presidential elections for the first time. The Central Election Commission registered Leonid Slutsky (LDPR), Nikolai Kharitonov (Communist Party of the Russian Federation), Vladislav Davankov (New People) and self-nominated candidate Vladimir Putin as candidates for the presidential elections. In support of Putin as a candidate, they collected 10 times more signatures than required by law.