CCTV purporting to show two women manipulating ballots at a St Petersburg polling station has emerged hours after President Putin's foes accused the Kremlin of brazen attempts to rig Russia's three-day election.
Footage appears to show two women placing extra voting cards into the ballot box after the polling station closed on the first day of a three-day election on Friday.
The video emerged hours after the head of Russia's Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov accused Putin's supporters of ballot stuffing, trying to vote several times in one place or at multiple polling stations, and hiding fake votes among unsealed stores of unused ballot papers.
Meanwhile the elections commission said it had recorded three 'targeted attacks from abroad - two aimed at the centre's website and the third DDoS assault - since the three-day vote started yesterday.
The elections for the Russians parliament follows a campaign by the authorities to jail or disqualify prominent opposition candidates including leading Putin foe Alexei Navalny, who was first poisoned with a chemical agent and then locked up.
CCTV purporting to show two women manipulating ballots at a St Petersburg polling station has emerged hours after President Putin's foes accused the Kremlin of brazen attempts to rig Russia's three-day election
The video emerged hours after the head of Russia's Communist Party Gennady Zyuganov accused Putin's supporters of ballot stuffing, trying to vote several times in one place or at multiple polling stations, and hiding fake votes among unsealed stores of unused ballot papers
The elections for the Russians parliament follows a campaign by the authorities to jail or disqualify prominent opposition candidates including leading Putin foe Alexei Navalny, who was first poisoned with a chemical agent and then locked up
The Golos election-monitoring movement and independent media also reported violations including vote-buying and lax measures for guarding ballots at polling stations.
A CCTV camera in a polling station caught two women manipulating ballots at midnight when a St Petersburg polling station was closed.
In Mytishchi there were reports of electors being provided with pens to mark their ballots - but the ink later vanished, leaving the votes being open to fraud.
There were reports of unsealed or unsecured stores of unused ballot papers into which fake votes were stashed.
And some voters were reportedly caught trying to cast ballots at several polling stations, and others were seen voting several times in the same place.
One opposition activist reported: 'Total [ballot] stuffing continues in St. Petersburg.
'Criminals are not ashamed of anything and shove packs (of votes) right under the camera of the observers.
'They know perfectly well that they will not be punished, rather they will get promoted.'
Eyewitness Maksim Tikhonov witnessed a man carrying a pile of ballots at polling station and pushing away a female official when she queried his actions.
Eyewitness Maksim Tikhonov witnessed a man carrying a pile of ballots at polling station and pushing away a female official when she queried his actions
Another video shows two election officials in Osinniki, Kemerovo region allegedly transferring ballot papers
Another video shows two election officials in Osinniki, Kemerovo region allegedly transferring ballot papers.
When one of the women realises she is being filmed, she ducks under a table.
An observer at polling station 1806 in St Petersburg prevented a fraudster from submitting 15 ballots for a United Russia candidate, it was alleged.
More than 2,000 violations
