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Discreditation of Russian elections financed from US and 4 more countries — lawmaker

According to Piskarev, these centers control around 100 media projects on the interference into Russia’s elections and on making fakes about the Russian special military operation in Ukraine and instigating separatist moods

MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. Activities aiming at discrediting Russia’s elections are financed largely from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, and Ukraine, with at least 30 million US dollars being spent on it a month, a Russian lawmaker said on Sunday.

"Activities aiming at discrediting our elections, including at promoting the West-backed candidates, are coordinated and financed primarily by five control centers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, and Ukraine," Vasily Piskarev, head of the commission on probing into foreign states’ interference into Russia’s domestic affairs at the Russian State Duma (lower parliament house), said.

According to Piskarev, these centers control around 100 media projects on the interference into Russia’s elections and on making fakes about the Russian special military operation in Ukraine and instigating separatist moods.

"In recent time, financing of this subversive activities against Russia has increased by many times. According to expert estimates, it stands at some 30 million US dollars a month," he said.

He also said that an organization established by the US Democratic Party had held seminars in Tallinn to train candidates to representative power bodies in Russia and on election campaign methods. He also said that the commission had registered cases when foreign agents disseminated manuals on how to spoil ballot papers and organize provocations during the elections. In his words, calls were voiced from abroad for organizing cyberattacks on the electronic voting system in Russia.

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