MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/. Western countries are unable to affect the results of the election to Russia’s State Duma (the lower house of parliament) set for September but may refuse to recognize its outcome, Chairman of the Board of the Valdai International Discussion Club’s Development and Support Foundation Andrei Bystritsky told TASS.

"It’s very difficult to ensure a significant impact on the election’s results. I think that the West won’t be able to do it because the number of Russians sensitive to such influence is not that high. However, there will clearly be attempts to support those who align themselves with Western countries," he pointed out.

Bystritsky emphasized that there was no way to prevent the West from interfering in the election. "There are the so-called public and political forces here, they are not the majority, but they do exit in Russia, they keep appealing to Western politicians and will continue that way. That said, it’s impossible to prevent interference in one way or another, this is the reality," he noted.

The analyst also said that the West would create negative news stories about Russia in the run-up to the election. "We do understand that the media will be very active, as well as various pseudo-media outlets that emerged on the Internet, which can be viewed as political and public organizations," Bystritsky stressed. "There are various methods of interference and it’s hard to say how aggressive and dangerous it will be," he added.

On June 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree scheduling the State Duma elections for the Unified Election Day, September 19, 2021. Voting will last three days, from September 17 to 19. In addition, nine Russian constituent entities will hold direct elections of regional heads and 39 regions will elect regional assemblies. In three more regions, top officials will be elected by legislative assemblies.