Russia\u2019s parliamentary elections have shown that its people cannot be intimidated or defeated, the president has said<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s parliamentary elections have shown that its people cannot be intimidated or defeated, President Vladimir Putin has said.
\nSpeaking at a Kremlin meeting with the leadership of political parties on Monday, Putin said attempts to disrupt the election campaign and interfere in the country\u2019s internal affairs had failed, adding that \u201cterrorist methods and instruments of foreign intelligence services\u201d had been used.
\nThe September 18-20 vote was accompanied by a massive Ukrainian drone raid targeting Moscow and other Russian regions on its final day. Russian officials said more than 1,600 UAVs were repelled, including 450 on approaches to the capital. Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin described the attack as \u201cunprecedented\u201d and said it had been intended to disrupt the elections. At least two civilians were reported killed in Moscow Region.
\nPutin thanked tens of millions of Russians for taking part in the vote, saying the turnout had ensured the \u201cindisputable, unquestionable legitimacy\u201d of the election.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Kremlin reacts to Ukraine\u2019s attack on Russian elections<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople here are strong, courageous and educated; everyone understands perfectly well what is happening around Russia,\u201d Putin said. \u201cIt became clear that such people cannot be intimidated. And it is impossible to defeat such people, such a country. Therefore, victory will undoubtedly be ours.\u201d
\nThe president also said the vote had demonstrated public support for Russian troops, noting that candidates who had taken part in the Ukraine conflict had won seats in parliament.
\nThe ruling United Russia party secured 355 of the State Duma\u2019s 450 seats.
\nSeparately on Monday, Putin signed a decree increasing the authorized strength of the Russian Armed Forces to 2,441,630 personnel, including 1,550,500 servicemen. The measure adds 15,500 positions compared with the previous decree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Russia\u2019s parliamentary elections have shown that its people cannot be intimidated or defeated, the president has said Russia\u2019s parliamentary elections have shown that its people cannot be intimidated or defeated,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t