DISINFO: The US is openly interfering with the Russian elections
SUMMARY
It is proved with documented evidence that the United States is interfering with the Russian Duma elections by supporting Navalny's "smart voting."
RESPONSE
This case is part of a developing disinformation narrative promoted by pro-Kremlin media outlets in response to the 2021 Russian legislative (Duma) elections which took place on 17th-19th September 2021.
In the lead up to the elections, Russian authorities have been trying to restrict the so-called smart voting, an electoral method initiated by poisoned and jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, according to which opposition-leaning Russian voters could support local candidates. The method was initiated due to the disintegrated nature of the Russian opposition.
On 5 September, a Russian court in Moscow ordered US tech giant Google to stop displaying the term smart voting in its search results, widely seen as an attempt to reduce chances of the opposition as the Duma elections approached. Similar demands were placed on Apple for the app store. Following these demands Google and Apple removed access to the "smart voting" platform during the Duma election.
In contrast to the claim put forward by pro-Kremlin media outlets, the United States, as a government of a foreign country, has not intervened in the Russian political process in the way described above. The US-based search engine Google is a privately owned company, operating its business completely independent from the US government.
Navalny and his opposition movement are a frequent target of pro-Kremlin media. Explore cases of disinformation related to the jailed opposition leader here.