MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Polling stations have opened in Russia’s regions that belong to the Moscow time zone - the central, southern, northwestern, as well as in some parts of the Volga Region and the North Caucasus, TASS correspondents report.

Moscow residents will be able to vote online. Russian citizens registered in Moscow who are entitled to vote and who have turned 18 can take part in online voting. There are more than 3,600 polling stations in Moscow this year. As many as 7,587,000 people may vote in the Russian capital, about 100,000 of them are residents of other cities.

Polling stations have also been organized in hospitals, pre-trial detention centers and social protection institutions.

In St. Petersburg, where members of the Russian State Duma (lower house) and the Legislative Assembly are elected, 1,940 "permanent" polling stations have opened. Temporary polling stations have been organized, in particular, in hospitals, aboard vessels, at polar stations, at Pulkovo airport and railway stations. More than 3.8 million voters in St. Petersburg will be able to take part in Russia’s legislative elections.

In the Southern Federal District and the North Caucasian Federal District, additional polling stations opened at the airports where tourists can vote and in municipal institutions. For example, in Crimea, 37 additional polling stations have opened in hospitals and another one at Simferopol’s airport.

Elections to the 8th Russian State Duma (lower house) are scheduled for September 19, 2021, known as the Single Voting Day. The balloting process will span across three days - September 17, 18, and 19. In addition to the State Duma elections, voters will go to the polls to cast ballots for the heads of nine Russian regions (in another three regions local legislatures will elect top executive officials) and in elections for 39 regional parliaments.