MOSCOW, March 11 The State Duma evaluates calls NATO countries should avoid traveling to the Russian Federation due to allegedly possible threats as a provocation and an attempt to prevent widespread international observation of the presidential elections in Russia, said the head of the State Duma Commission on Countering Foreign Intervention Vasily Piskarev.
According to him, last weekend the foreign ministries and embassies of the United States and other NATO countries coordinatedly recommended that their citizens avoid traveling to Russia in connection with allegedly possible terrorist attacks, while the Romanian Foreign Ministry “straightforwardly addressed such recommendations exclusively to citizens of their country planning to observe behind the presidential elections in Russia.»
«We expect the arrival of more than a thousand observers from about a hundred countries of the world for the upcoming elections. In this regard, we regard the destructive information campaign of NATO as another dirty provocation and an attempt to prevent broad international observation of the elections in the Russian Federation,» they say Piskarev’s words on the commission’s Telegram channel.
He noted that this is not the first campaign to intimidate guests of Russia and Russian citizens, aimed at international isolation of the Russian Federation. There was a surge of similar statements by diplomats and publications in the Western press before the Olympics in Sochi in 2014, when they failed to disrupt the Olympics, Piskarev recalled.
“The provocateurs will not achieve their goals this time either. The commission will continue its work to identify attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of our country,” the parliamentarian concluded.
The Federation Council has scheduled presidential elections for March 17, 2024. Voting will last three days: March 15, 16 and 17. Four candidates registered by the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation are vying for the post of head of state: Leonid Slutsky, Nikolai Kharitonov, Vladislav Davankov and Vladimir Putin.