YEKATERINBURG, March 16 A resident of Yekaterinburg was detained at a polling station in gymnasium No. 13 for trying to spoil ballots with green paint, the press service of the Sverdlovsk election commission reported on Saturday.
“In gymnasium No. 13 of Yekaterinburg, a provocation was prevented: a woman tried to bring green paint into the premises of PECs 1550 and 1556. In the corridor, she was noticed by other voters, members of the PEC and a police officer drew attention to her. She was detained,” a representative of the department told the agency.
The election commission noted that the voting process at the polling station proceeded normally, continuously, and the ballots, other election documentation, and the election registration information system were not damaged.
As the head of the press service of the regional headquarters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Valery Gorelykh, added to journalists, the woman’s identity has been established. “This is a local resident, born in 1974. She was taken to the duty station for investigation. The materials collected on this fact will be sent to the investigative authorities to make a procedural decision,” Gorelykh said, noting that the sanction is Article 141 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Obstruction of the implementation of electoral rights or the work of election commissions») provides for imprisonment of up to 5 years.
A source in law enforcement agencies reported that the detained woman is “an employee of UrFU, a doctor of chemical sciences,” and during the arrest she resisted the police officers.
«She was taken to police department No. 7 to draw up a report under Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation («Petty hooliganism»). At the direction of unidentified persons, she transferred 15 million rubles to them. Yesterday she was told that in order to return the money, she must come to the polling station in the gymnasium and fill it with brilliant green KOIB,” the source explained, adding that it is possible that a criminal case will be opened against the Ekaterinburg woman under the article of obstruction of elections.
At the same time, as the interlocutor emphasized, the woman had not previously been noticed in protest activity.
The head of the Central Election Commission, Ella Pamfilova, previously stated that those detained for damaging ballot boxes at polling stations admitted that they did it for money from abroad and did not know about criminal liability. She said that one of the detainees was promised 100 thousand rubles for this. According to Pamfilova, Russia will cope with provocations in the presidential elections that are being prepared from abroad.
The Federation Council has scheduled presidential elections for March 17, 2024. Voting takes place over 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.