MOSCOW, March 16. /TASS/. Russia’s telecom watchdog has blocked a fake website of the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) and a fake Telegram channel of CEC Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova.

"Indeed, we are in close contact with the telecom watchdog. Today, it exposed and blocked a fake CEC website. Before that, it blocked face accounts of election commissions in social networks. There were a lot of them, including allegedly my Telegram channel," Pamfilova said.

"There are no other websites or channels except the official ones," she stressed.

The Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, officially designated March 17, 2024 as the day of the presidential election. The Central Election Commission (CEC) then announced that voting would take place over three days on March 15-17.

Four candidates are vying for the top office, namely New People party nominee Vladislav Davankov; self-nominated candidate and incumbent President Vladimir Putin; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) nominee Leonid Slutsky; and Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) nominee Nikolay Kharitonov.