Page 68 - RusRPTAug24

preventive measure in the form of detention for two months." Yulia Navalnaya currently lives outside of Russia, but would face jail time if she returns.
Russian commander linked to Bucha killings detained on corruption charges. Russian authorities have detained Colonel Artyom Gorodilov, the top military commander whose troops were responsible for the massacre in Bucha, on charges of large-scale fraud, Russian state media outlet TASS reported on July 4.
Islamic leader of Russia's Karachay-Cherkessia announces temporary niqab ban. The Muftiate of Karachay-Cherkessia, a republic of Russia in the North Caucasus, announced a temporary ban on the wearing of the niqab, a day after the Muftiate of Dagestan announced a similar ban.
The Central Election Commission announced in July that September’s elections to the Moscow City Duma, the capital’s governing council, will take place entirely online. Technically it will still be possible to use a paper ballot — but only if you request it several days ahead of the vote — meaning e-voting is now seen as the norm. Physical polling stations will still exist, decked out with electronic terminals for voters to log in and cast their ballot.
The idea of electronic voting is a logical step forward given how many basic services people access entirely online these days. But in Russia’s electoral system — once dubbed a “managed democracy” for having the apparent trappings of elections but in which the results and outcomes are controlled from the center — it has already been demonstrated that online voting allows the authorities to more easily manipulate the results.
In every poll while electronic voting was an option, Vladimir Putin and his party achieved better results from the online electorate than those that cast paper ballots, even though logic suggests the reverse should be true, since younger voters — less inclined to support the authorities — should be more likely to vote online. (Although in some elections, like the 2021 parliament elections, opposition candidates urged against online voting arguing that paper ballots were slightly harder to falsify.) For instance, in the 2024 presidential election, Putin polled 76.8% at physical polling stations in Moscow. But he got 89% from the online vote, bringing his overall vote share in the capital to 85.1%.
Online voting was first rolled out in 2020, initially as a supposed anti-Covid measure. Two electronic systems were developed, which authorities said were based on blockchain technology and encrypted so that votes could not be connected to an individual or changed along the way. But unlike a true blockchain, every node of Russia’s online voting systems is under the authorities’ control. As a result, according to experts, the system gives far-reaching opportunities for fraud — as well as for exposing who individual voters cast their ballots for.
68 RUSSIA Country Report August 2024 www.intellinews.com