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Russia may sanction countries from where cyberattacks came — senate speaker

Elections to the eighth Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) were held on September 17, 18, and 19
Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko Alexei Nikolsky/Russian Presidential Press and Information Press Office/TASS
Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko
© Alexei Nikolsky/Russian Presidential Press and Information Press Office/TASS

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/. Moscow may impose sanctions on the countries from where cyberattacks on Russian websites came during the State Duma elections, Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Speaker Valentina Matviyenko told TV host Vladimir Solovyov on Sunday.

"The number of hacking attacks has grown significantly, which particular target the Central Election Commission's website. The reason is clear. After the election, we definitely will request these countries to look into this issue," she pointed out. When asked if sanctions could be imposed on those countries, Matviyenko said: "If there are grounds to do so, I think, we could take that path."

The speaker of the Russian parliament’s upper house noted the "unprecedented foreign interference" into this year’s elections to the State Duma.

"Unprecedented foreign interference was observed this time. Notably, [it began] when the elections were a distant prospect," she told the ‘Sunday evening with Vladimir Solovyev’ TV show. "Good thing that we have legal instruments to fight attempts to meddle with our country’s sovereign affairs. We all know who tried to interfere and in which format."

CEC chief Ella Pamfilova earlier pointed to unprecedented cyberattacks on the commission's website during the elections. Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Maksut Shadayev, in turn, said that cyberattacks had not had any significant impact on Russian systems.

Elections to the eighth Russian State Duma (the lower house of parliament) were held on September 17, 18, and 19. In addition to the State Duma elections, voters also cast their ballots for the heads of nine Russian regions and members of 39 regional parliaments.