MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/. A new procedure of using video surveillance at polling stations, which may only be accessed by the campaign team, is related to the intention of Western opponents to fabricate and disseminate non-existent violations using artificial intelligence, head of the Ad Hoc Commission on Protecting State Sovereignty and Preventing Interference in the Domestic Affairs of the Russian Federation Council Andrei Klimov told TASS.

"They (Russia’s western opponents - TASS) wanted to exploit our openness but it didn’t work out - the fact that during our previous campaigns there was a generally accessible video surveillance of the vote. Knowing that they were going to fabricate non-existent violations using artificial intelligence and then disseminate everything, we changed the rules - access to the video recordings will only be provided to the immediate participants of the campaign," the senator said.

He emphasized that video of the voting process is used in Russia on a scale comparable to "no other country." "And it makes no sense to criticize us for adjusting the procedure of working with the video recording process. They should introduce something like that [in their own country] first," the senator noted.

At a meeting on July 14, Russia’s Central Electoral Commission approved the procedure of using video surveillance at polling stations for the upcoming elections to the State Duma. About 50,000 polling stations will be outfitted with video cameras.

The 8th State Duma elections are scheduled for September 19. The voting will stretch over three days: September 17, 18, and 19. Simultaneously, there will be direct elections for the heads of nine Russian regions (in three others, top executive officials will be elected by local legislatures) and 39 regional parliaments.