The Council of Europe, Europe's leading rights group, calls the week-long vote a flagrant violation of international law, and Kyiv and its allies say it was an illegal attempt to tighten Moscow's grip over regions in Ukraine's south and east
Russia on Sunday, September 10, wrapped up widely denounced regional and municipal elections, including in regions annexed from Ukraine, delivering strong support for President Vladimir Putin amidst criticism of vote rigging and Kyiv’s push to reclaim its land.flagrant violation
But in the regions voting, electoral competition was limited, as strong candidates, including some from Russia’s main opposition Communist Party, were blocked from running by authorities. Kremlin critics have said that elections in Moscow are easily rigged due to the capital’s system of electronic voting, which they say is impossible to audit. Similar systems have been rolled out in many other Russian regions.