Putin’s bogus elections ‘hit by cyber attack’ as Russians target polling stations across the country

8 months ago 3

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PUTIN’S bogus election has been hit by cyber attacks causing chaos for online voters, say Russia.

Websites have reportedly been crashing across the country due to the attacks as angered citizens continue to target polling stations with paint and petrol bombs.

Another woman reportedly set fire to a voting booth in Moscow[/caption]

A woman allegedly threw a petrol bomb near a polling station

The bogus election is now into its second day and is due to end Sunday[/caption]

Putin is expected to win with about 80 per cent of the vote, say the Kremlin[/caption]

Russia‘s governing party United Russia announced earlier today that various online polls are facing a widespread denial-of-service attack.

These are designed to slow down a website’s servers by flooding it with requests before causing it to completely shut down and turn the website or computer offline.

United Russia has now reportedly suspended all non-essential services to try and counteract the cyber attacks.

President Vladimir Putin, 71, – who is all but guaranteed to keep his reign of tyranny going with the farce election – has accused Ukraine of attempting to sabotage the election already.

Putin is running as an independent candidate and has United Russia’s support along with thousands of other top Russian officials.

If Putin was to win, as many predict, he could serve until 2030 at least.

It comes as polling stations across Russia were hit by a wave of fire and paint attacks on Friday.

Russians appear to be resisting Putin’s continued horrifying reign over them at the polling booths by destroying votes.

Green dye has been poured over hundreds of ballot papers as other videos show boxes being set alight by petrol bombs and even fireworks.

Several Russians have reportedly been detained for the brave acts of vandalism.

A majority of the attacks have been reported in Moscow, Voronezh in south Russia, and the region of Karachay-Cherkessia in the north Caucasus, according to state news agency Tass.

But at least 10 stations have experienced trouble, according to reports.

One woman was reportedly arrested in Moscow for pouring litres of paint into a ballot box, spoiling all of the votes.

Footage appeared to show the woman slip a ballot through the slot before pouring green liquid over the contents of the transparent box.

Russian media reported “a criminal case” had been opened against a woman who “poured paint into a ballot box”.

It was alleged by electoral authorities in St Petersburg that a woman also threw a petrol bomb near a polling station, sparking a fire which was later put out.

In another act of protest, a woman appeared to tip flammable fluid over one of the booths as it shot up in roaring flames.

Happening in Moscow, the woman then started recording the act on her phone.

Meanwhile, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a polling station in St Petersburg, local news site Fontanka reports.

Further footage showed a police officer desperately attempting to put out a blaze inside a polling station – in an unknown location – as black smoke filled the room.

And voting soldiers have reportedly scrawled the name “Navalny” on their ballots in support of the late opposition leader – widely considered to be Putin’s fiercest foe – Alexei Navalny.

The Russian opposition leader died in mysterious circumstances last month while serving a 19-year sentence on trumped-up charges.

Western leaders and members of his camp claim he was “murdered” on the direct orders of Putin.

Also yesterday, a middle-aged woman was reported to have emptied dye into a ballot box in Borisoglebsk, a town in Voronezh region.

There were reportedly three other instances of similar vote tampering.

One woman was said to have poured the dye into a ballot box in Karachay-Cherkessia, while a 62-year-old man allegedly did the same in Samarskoye village.

Another woman also poured dye into a ballot box in occupied Crimea, say unconfirmed reports.

Russian news outlet Mash reported: “All those detained for damaging ballots are now being checked for cooperation with the Ukrainian special services.”

Some have theorised that the protesters were persuaded to carry out the attacks by phone scammers working for Ukrainian intelligence services.

As in Kursk and Rostov regions – bordering Ukraine – there were also unconfirmed reports that pens with disappearing ink were provided to voters, enabling later ballot tampering.

A source cited by the anti-war Telegram channel Sirena said: “The inscription disappears when heated, although the pen looks ordinary.

“They told everyone to be silent and only supply these pens from the boxes they brought.”

The boxes carried the logo of the Central Election Commission, which some believe is biased in favour of Putin.

A video supposedly demonstrating the alleged abuse did not show a real ballot paper.

There were multiple reports of state employees being “forced” to vote for the Russian tyrant.

In the Urals, some were locked out of their offices in the cold, and ordered to vote first being allowed to go to work.

While in Barnaul and elsewhere in the Altai region, surveillance cameras in polling stations – supposedly a guard against fraud – were not working.

In the Khorsky settlement of the Khabarovsk region, a suspicious stack of ballots was noticed in a box, as if thrown in together.

And in Chukotka, Russia’s most easterly region voters were provided with pancakes, which may be seen as an inducement to vote.

There were also claims of abuses involving the issuing of ballots enabling poll workers to visit residents at home to obtain their votes.

Exiled journalist Dmitry Kolezev, editor of Republic, said of the conduct of the Russian election: “At 8am the polling stations are already packed.

“Employees of the school, administration, local district gas and energy sales were required to vote before starting work, and they keep a record of the lists of those who voted.

“Such control has never existed in previous years.

“There is a very clear command to the heads of organisations – so that all employees vote on Friday – a working day.

“So, alas, the picture with both turnout and support will be what they need.”

Stanislav Andreichyuk, of Golos election monitoring organisation, said: “The first day of voting has started and everything is going exactly as we warned.

“A huge number of voters were under duress.”

The three other candidates all support the war, although one, Vladislav Davankov, 40, of the New People party, a Kremlin-choreographed grouping, backs negotiations to halt the conflict.

Kremlin officials have reportedly decreed that Putin will win with about 80 per cent of the vote.