Ukrainian-Born Duma Deputy Takes Jab At Sobchak
Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya says she has sent a lawmaker's request to the head of the Central Election Commission asking that Ksenia Sobchak be disqualified as a candidate over statements concerning Crimea.
RFE/RL's Russian Service quotes the former Ukrainian prosecutor, whom Russian authorities named top prosecutor after Crimea's annexation in 2014 and before her election to the Russian legislature in 2016, as accusing Sobchak of casting doubt on Russian territorial integrity and disrespecting Crimeans.
Poklonskaya also acknowledging that it's too late to get Sobchak off the ballot.
Interfax quoting the Kremlin spokesman on the only real question in this presidential voting:
"It is the job of political experts to reason on what voter turnout will be sufficient. Naturally, bearing in mind that the president's televised address to citizens of Russia calling on them to vote in the election was issued today, the Kremlin believes that the more that citizens use their right to vote, the better," Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
On the question of turnout, and recent signs that Russian authorities are backing away from their purported target of 70 percent voter participation to boost perceptions of legitimacy, here's Putin's latest, via AP:
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin is urging Russians to cast ballots in Sunday's election, which he's certain to win.
Putin said in Friday's televised address that "the will of the people, the will of each Russian citizen will determine the path the country will take."
The Russian leader, whose approval ratings top 80 percent, is set to easily win another six-year term against seven challengers, but the Kremlin has been concerned about voter apathy and has sought to boost turnout to make Putin's victory as impressive as possible.
Putin urged Russians to "use their right to choose the future for the great Russia that we all love." He warned that failure to cast a ballot would mean that "this decisive choice will be made without your opinion taken into account."
The first four of RFE/RL's Russian Elections 101 video explainers all in one place for easy viewing: The Watchdogs, The Outsider, The Formalities, and The Shoo-In! Later today, The Also-Rans.
Parody: Vote And Get A U.S. Green Card
The Russian parody news site Intersucks has a piece playing on the seemingly infinite array of tactics the Kremlin has deployed to boost turnout in the March 18 presidential election -- from controversial fake "referendums" to sales of cheap buckwheat.
In the parody, Central Election Commission Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova announces that polling stations in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other large cities will be handing out "green cards" for residency in the United States.
"Just what won't we do to boost turnout," goes the fake quote. "We have even agreed with the Americans to organize the free distribution of green cards. It is a way of attracting the liberal segment of society to the election."
After casting their ballots, Intersucks jests, voters will be able to immediately exchange their Russian passports for green cards. The give-away also includes a free one-way ticket to Washington dated March 19.
"This will be the greatest election in Russian history," Pamfilova is quoted as saying while "expressing her gratitude to the Americans."
- By Andy Heil
Don't Mind The Gap
TASS reports that the U.K.'s expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats over Moscow's suspected role in the poisoning of former double agent Skripal and his daughter won't have any adverse effect on voting at Russia's London embassy:
The personnel of the Russian embassy in Britain, involved in technical procedures for organizing the voting in the Russian presidential election on March 18, has been replaced, so the expulsion of a group of diplomats will not affect the procedure, Russia's ambassador to Britain Aleksandr Yakovenko told the Rossiya-24 television news channel in an interview.
Correspondent Carl Schreck has been up to a lot more than just his fantastic Catch Carlos If You Can expose on the ex-con behind one of the most enduring MH17 hoaxes.
This is worth reading, too:
Candidate With Benefits: The 'Administrative Resources' That Help Putin
By Carl Schreck
All things supposedly being equal, one candidate has been more equal than others in the run-up to Russia's presidential election.
Only the incumbent, Vladimir Putin, starred in flattering documentaries backed by state television ahead of the March 18 ballot. His billboards received police protection after incidents of vandalism, according to witnesses and media reports. And he secured two hours of exclusive face time before a nationwide TV audience just weeks before the poll while his opponents bickered in debates that one candidate called a "circus."
These are just some of the benefits Putin has enjoyed throughout the campaign thanks to what are known as "administrative resources" -- a broad range of bureaucratic levers that can be pulled to help ensure a desired electoral outcome for authorities.
KEEP READING
Covering Up Falsification?
Last week RFE/RL wrote about a new account on Telegram that seems to be written by a person working in the Russian-language section of the notorious St. Petersburg troll factory. In that article, we cover his discussion of what he and his colleagues are doing to influence the March 18 presidential election.
On March 15, the same Telegram account, under the handle Kremlebot, published what he says are the instructions he and his colleagues have received on how to respond to claims of falsification that will no doubt arise on election day and in the days after. The detailed instructions include bullet-point arguments on how to respond, from "technical mistakes" to "opposition provocateurs" to opposition "publicity seeking" to, of course, "Western meddling."
Even more interestingly, Kremlebot includes a list of articles and links that should be referred to in making the arguments, stories that apparently have been placed online in advance for this purpose.
It is fascinating reading.