Putin to Vote Online in Elections to Russian Parliament

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will vote online during the ongoing elections to the parliament’s lower house, Kremlin spokesman said on Friday.

"The president will take part in the online voting", Peskov told reporters, adding that the Kremlin will announce the date when Putin will vote "when he makes a decision" on it.

The spokesman also addressed that the so-called Smart Voting project, calling it a provocation.

"We have a negative view towards it. These are absolutely provocative regular attempts, which actually harm the voters. There is no other way to treat it", Peskov stressed.

The "Smart Voting" app is designed to help voters where the opposition has a strong chance of displacing a governing party candidate

Moscow has previously criticised the app, pointing out that the project is linked to the US government. Last week, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned US Ambassador Sullivan, informing him that Washington's efforts to interfere in elections were "categorically inadmissible".

At the same time, Russian MPs warned Apple and Google that hosting "Smart Voting" on their platforms during the elections was direct meddling, so the tech giants subsequently deleted the app.

The polls are open in the country on 17-19 September for federal legislative elections. Recent opinion polling by Russian sociological firms shows that the ruling party United Russia has between 26 and 30 percent of the vote. Next come the opposition: Communist Party (14.9-22 percent), Liberal Democratic Party (7-9.6 percent), and Just Russia (5-6.3 percent).