The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday summoned US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan to complain about alleged interference by US “digital giants” in Russia’s upcoming parliamentary election.
Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Ryabkov said Russia “possesses irrefutable evidence of the violation of Russian legislation by American ‘digital giants’ in the context of the preparation and conduct of elections to the State Duma,” the ministry said in a statement.
The statement did not give details of the complaint, but Russian authorities have pressured Google and Apple to remove apps of the Smart Voting initiative designed by the team of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Photo: AP
The program aims to advise voters which candidates are in the best position to defeat candidates from United Russia, the party that dominates parliament, in the election on Sunday next week.
US Department of State spokeswoman Jalina Porter said Sullivan met with the deputy foreign minister to discuss a range of issues “in support of [US] President [Joe] Biden’s desire for a stable and predictable relationship with Russia.”
She declined to comment on the Russian claims of election interference by the US tech companies.
Russian authorities this year declared Navalny’s organizations to be extremist, and hardly any Kremlin critics have been allowed on the ballot for the parliament election.
Although the other sizable parties on the ballot routinely support Russian President Vladimir Putin — as does United Russia — Smart Voting’s intent is to undermine United Russia’s dominance of the political landscape, thereby casting a shadow on Putin.
Navalny devised the idea in 2018 and it has proved to be effective in previous regional elections. In 2019, it helped opposition candidates win 20 of 45 seats on the Moscow city council.
Authorities have blocked most access to Smart Voting’s Web site, leaving it available largely through mobile apps, and it is unclear how widely it will be used in the parliamentary election.
Tunisian President Kais Saied yesterday condemned a European Parliament resolution on human rights calling for the release of his critics as “blatant interference.” The EU Parliament resolution, voted by an overwhelming majority the day before, called for the release of lawyer Sonia Dahmani, a popular critic of Saied, who was freed from prison on Thursday, but remained under judicial supervision. “The European Parliament [resolution] is a blatant interference in our affairs,” Saied said. “They can learn lessons from us on rights and freedoms.” Saied’s condemnation also came two days after he summoned the EU’s ambassador for “failing to respect diplomatic rules.” He also
Tropical Storm Koto killed three people and left another missing as it approached Vietnam, authorities said yesterday, as strong winds and high seas buffeted vessels off the country’s flood-hit central coast. Heavy rains have lashed Vietnam’s middle belt in recent weeks, flooding historic sites and popular holiday destinations, and causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. Authorities ordered boats to shore and diverted dozens of flights as Koto whipped up huge waves and dangerous winds, state media reported. Two vessels sank in the rough seas, a fishing boat in Khanh Hoa province and a smaller raft in Lam Dong, according to the
Sri Lanka made an appeal for international assistance yesterday as the death toll from heavy rains and floods triggered by Cyclone Ditwah rose to 123, with another 130 reported missing. The extreme weather system has destroyed nearly 15,000 homes, sending almost 44,000 people to state-run temporary shelters, the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said. DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda said relief operations had been strengthened with the deployment of thousands of troops from the country’s army, navy and air force. “We have 123 confirmed dead and another 130 missing,” Kotuwegoda told reporters in Colombo. Cyclone Ditwah was moving away from the island yesterday and
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
RSS