U.S. Ambassador to Moscow John Sullivan was summoned to the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry on Friday, September 10.
In a press release, the Russian Foreign MInistry said that the reason for the summons was interference in Russia’s domestic affairs in connection with the upcoming State Duma elections.
“During the conversation, it was emphasized that the Russian side has irrefutable evidence of violation of Russia law by American ‘digital giants’ in the context of the preparation and conduct of the elections to the State Duma.”
The Foreign Ministry’s statement added that the “categorical inadmissibility” of U.S. interference in Russia’s domestic affairs was emphasized during the conversation.
Earlier, Interfax reported that the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Sullivan after journalists from the state news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti were denied accreditation to an event in New York commemorating the victims of 9/11. The news agencies later refuted this information.
On September 9, Russia’s federal censor (Roskomnadzor) demanded that the American tech giants Apple, Google, Cloudflare, and Cisco prevent Alexey Navalny’s “Smart Vote” initiative from bypassing Russia’s Internet blocks.
Roskomnadzor blocked the “Smart Vote” website due to the initiative’s connections to Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which Russian authorities designated as an “extremist organization” back in July.
Smart Vote
“Smart Vote” is the name of the strategic voting strategy promoted by opposition figure Alexey Navalny and his team. They encourage voters who do not want to support Kremlin-backed candidates to unify their votes behind the strongest rival. Navalny and his team identify and endorse a candidate in each particular race who they deem most likely to defeat the Kremlin’s nominee.