MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. Western countries are preparing and already carrying out massive cyberattacks ahead of the Russian presidential election, but the country's electoral system demonstrates stability Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Gennady Askaldovich said.

"Massive cyberattacks are being carried out and prepared by the collective West and hackers from various countries. Let me reiterate that at last year's municipal elections, according to the Central Election Commission, about 170,000 cyberattacks were repelled alone in one day," Askaldovich told a meeting of the Ad Hoc Commission on Protecting State Sovereignty and Preventing Interference in Domestic Affairs of the Russian Federation at the upper house of parliament.

"It's good that our electoral system proved resistant to external cyber influence, but it's also an indicator of how much pressure our enemies are putting on the Russian state."

According to Askaldovich, the Foreign Ministry’s system is fully ready to conduct the poll abroad. "We have already conducted early voting in six or seven countries. We had somewhere around 435 people voting early. All of this went on routinely. <...> As many as 280 polling stations have been formed by now. For comparison: 394 polling stations were opened in the 2018 elections. Election commissions have been established, ballot papers have also been delivered <....>," he added.

Russia’s Federation Council, or upper house of parliament, has scheduled the presidential election for March 17, 2024. Voting will take place over three days - on March 15, 16 and 17. Thus, it will be the first three-day election for Russia’s president.