Russia poll monitors, bloggers ‘under attack’ ahead of vote

Vote observers and bloggers said yesterday they were under attack as Russia prepared for an election likely to slash the ruling party’s majority ahead of Vladimir Putin’s return as president next year.

Officials took her laptop on the pretext it had illegal software

The parliamentary elections were widely expected to mark a decline in United Russia’s popularity, weeks after the announcement of a controversial job swap between President Dmitry Medvedev and Putin, currently prime minister.

Liliya Shibanova, the head of Russian election monitoring group Golos, said she was held for 12 hours yesterday by customs officials after she landed at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow.

Officials took her laptop on the pretext it had illegal software, she said.

“This is a provocation directed personally against me,” she said, alleging that the authorities were trying to prevent her from travelling to the EU parliament this week. Shibanova said the unprecedented pressure on the 11-year-old organisation built because of its “map of violations” website, where people can upload information, including photo and video evidence of election fraud in Russia.

The map, available at kartanarusheniy.ru, listed a total of 8,334 election violations. “It is an attempt to paralyse the organisation’s work altogether,” head of the group’s analytical department Alexander Kynev said, adding that many of Golos’s 3,000 election observers across Russia are under great pressure.