“All of the constructive political forces and parties are interested that these elections are held in full compliance with the law and in the spirit of an honest and open competition, and so that their results are objective and reflect the actual opinion and mood of the citizens of our country,” Putin said at an FSB meeting.
“But the FSB and other organs also have another task, which is to do everything possible to halt activities of those who make attempts or may attempt to use nationalist, xenophobic, or radical slogans directed at splitting our society,” Putin added.
Foreign meddling in Russia’s elections is a direct threat to the country’s sovereignty and authorities need to react to such attempts, Vladimir Putin said.
“Of course, any foreign attempts of interfering during the elections, into our domestic political life must be halted. And you know that such technology exists and has been used more than once in a whole range of countries,” Putin said during a meeting with members of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).
“I repeat, this is a direct threat to our sovereignty and we will react to this accordingly,” Putin emphasized.
