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Provocations recorded during Russian presidential vote in US, ambassador notes

The Russian ambassador to the US noted that the Russian Embassy has no plans to conduct any investigations

WASHINGTON, March 18. /TASS/. Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told reporters on Sunday there were provocations during early balloting in Russia’s presidential election in the United States.

"We organized polls in 19 cities. Voting is still in progress in various cities today. Everything went well, democratically, in accordance with Russian laws," he said. "I cannot say everything went 100% the way we wanted."

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"Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is provocations did occur. There were those people who, I believe, do not understand what a presidential election is and how important it is not to hinder it," the envoy resumed.

He said that "a building where the voting was supposed to be held was splattered with some gunk. There were also instances when some individuals who permitted the use of their premises for the voting had received threats, and they were suddenly confronted with problems, so they were forced to abandon [their offers]," Antonov added.

He noted though that the Russian Embassy has no plans to conduct any investigations. Antonov hoped that the "relevant agencies" in the US would be interested in these incidents and would "undertake all necessary measures."

In all, 982 Russians cast early votes in the US, while four people requested to vote at home.

Eight candidates are running for the highest office in the Russian Federation. Among them are: incumbent President Vladimir Putin; Pavel Grudinin, director of the Lenin State Farm (nominated by the Communist Party of Russia); TV personality and socialite Ksenia Sobchak (nominated by Civil Initiative); Sergey Baburin, head of the Russian People’s Union party; Maxim Suraikin, chairman of the Central Committee of the Communists of Russia party; Boris Titov, chairman of the Party of Growth and Russian Presidential Envoy for Entrepreneurs’ Rights; Grigory Yavlinsky, head of the Yabloko Party’s federal political committee; Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR).

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Russian presidential election 2018

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