A Russian woman casts her early vote at her home during the presidential elections (French)
On Monday, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service accused the United States of trying to interfere in the Russian presidential elections that begin within days, and spoke of an American plan to target the Russian electronic voting system.
Russian media quoted a statement from the SVR apparatus - which is considered the heir to the former Soviet KGB apparatus - that the administration of US President Joe Biden will assign American non-governmental organizations with the task of achieving a decrease in the participation rate in the Russian presidential elections scheduled to be held between two days. 15 and 17 March.
Russian Foreign Intelligence added that Washington is preparing remote cyber attacks on the electronic voting system, which will make it impossible to count the votes of a large percentage of Russian voters, according to what was stated in the statement.
The Russian apparatus did not provide evidence for its accusations against the US administration in this regard, and there was no immediate response from Washington.
Expectations indicate that Russian President Vladimir Putin (71 years old) will win easily, allowing him to continue in power until 2030. Putin recently warned the West that any attempts by foreign powers to interfere in the Russian presidential elections will be considered a hostile act.
Last week, the Kremlin said that Russia would not interfere in the US presidential elections scheduled for next November, and rejected American reports that Moscow had organized campaigns to influence the US presidential elections in 2016 and 2020.
Accusations of links between some of former US President Donald Trump's aides to Russia led to the opening of investigations in the United States into Moscow's possible influence on the 2016 US presidential elections.
Recently, the Russian President said that he prefers Democratic candidate Joe Biden over his Republican rival, Donald Trump, but observers believe that Putin means exactly the opposite, as he hopes that this choice will give Trump a strong impetus, according to Agence France-Presse.
Source: Agencies