"[State Dept] is showing another example of interference in our internal affairs. Now with fake news. Bad attempt to damage Russian democracy. Will not work. Full transparency of Presidential elections guaranteed," the Embassy tweeted in response.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert tweeted Friday that the Russian Central Election Commission had allegedly denied observer status to 5,000 independents, in what she said was a proof that Kremlin authorities "fear transparency."
Russians will go to the polls this Sunday to elect a new president. Incumbent Vladimir Putin is running as an independent. He is challenged by Sergey Baburin from All-People's Union, Communist Party's Pavel Grudinin, Civil Initiative's Ksenia Sobchak, Communists of Russia's Maxim Suraykin, presidential commissioner for entrepreneurs’ rights Boris Titov, the Yabloko party's Grigory Yavlinsky, and the Liberal Democratic leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky.