MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/. Russia’s Western opponents are planning to organize demarches near Russian diplomatic missions abroad with the help of Russian-speaking citizens in order to discredit the upcoming elections scheduled to be held in September and the election campaign in general, head the Russian Federation Council’s Ad Hoc Commission on Protecting State Sovereignty and Preventing Interference in the Domestic Affairs of the Russian Federation Andrei Klimov has told TASS.
"It is supposed to use Russian-speaking people abroad very actively [during the election campaign], not Russian citizens, let me note, but those who speak Russian. They can be natives of various countries. It is supposed to organize various kinds of demarches near our diplomatic missions with their help, primarily in Europe and, possibly, in the United States," he said.
According to the senator, the aim of Western opponents is to "imitate indignation over the course of the election campaign and its results."
Klimov noted that the current election campaign, just like the previous one, was characterized by "large-scale and rather aggressive attempts by a number of Western and pro-Western organizations to discredit the elections in Russia."
On June 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an executive order on holding the vote to the State Duma of the eighth convocation on Election Day, September 19, 2021. The election will run for three days - September 17, 18 and 19. In addition to the State Duma race, direct voting to elect the heads of nine Russian constituent entities and 39 regional parliaments will be held. In three more regions, the top officials will be elected by legislative assemblies.