MOSCOW, February 8. /TASS/. The working group on monitoring attempts to interfere in the election campaign for the Russian presidential election notes a growing number of open calls for unauthorized rallies on election day and predicts attempts will be made to trigger mass protests after the election, Vladimir Dzhabarov, a senior parliamentarian from the Federation Council said.
"Open calls for participation in unauthorized actions at polling stations on voting day have been particularly frequent over the past two weeks," said Dzhabarov, who heads the working group of the upper house’s commission on the protection of state sovereignty and prevention of interference in Russia’s internal affairs.
"There is no doubt that our opponents are planning attempts to incite mass protests immediately after the election as well. So-called Western experts are already working on the issue of potential protests," the senator told a meeting of the commission.
According to him, the working group records the hostile activities of Western countries on a daily basis. Dzhabarov cited several of their specific features. "First, indiscriminate accusations and assessments aimed at shaping a negative attitude to the election campaign and electoral procedures in the Russian Federation are spread via media resources sponsored by the West," the senator said.
"In an attempt to mar the election campaign, propaganda resources sponsored by Western countries are working in a coordinated manner to pump out fake stories. For example, when signatures were being collected in support of candidates, Western media and information resources - foreign agents, almost synchronously circulated unsubstantiated accusations of violations in the collection of signatures in support of the nomination of President Vladimir Putin," the parliamentarian said.
He emphasized the ever-growing number of participants trying to discredit the election. For this purpose, foreign agents, controlled by media and NGOs, platforms of a number of international organizations, as well as officials are used. "Thirdly, the West realizes the low effectiveness of direct influence on the course of elections and therefore relies on provocations. In this regard, a number of anti-Russian agencies are advocating for taking part in illegal actions and circulating appeals to violate Russian legislation," Dzhabarov said.
In particular, he mentioned a fresh series of appeals on February 1 on the websites of the Western-sponsored media foreign agents Deutsche Welle and Voice of America.
"The commission's working group is carefully recording all the tools and approaches used to meddle. We will take them into account in further work on strengthening sovereignty and developing additional mechanisms of protection against destructive influences from abroad," Dzhabarov said.
He warned that any person trying to interfere from among Russian citizens, including foreign agents, would not go unnoticed. "All such activities get a legal assessment, and their perpetrators will be held liable in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation," the senator emphasized.