As elections get underway, Russia closes Sochi polling stations over drone threat
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Voting for Russia's State Duma elections in the Black Sea city of Sochi was put on hold on Sept. 18, with polling stations closed due to the threat of a Ukrainian drone attack, local authorities said.
"Exhaustive security measures have been taken at polling stations in Sochi," said the city's mayor, Andrey Propushin.
"Members of election commissions, observers and voters, who are at the precincts, have been moved to shelters until the 'drone attack' threat is lifted."
Russia on Sept. 18 began its three-day elections for the 450-member State Duma, the lower chamber of Russia's legislature, for the first time since the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine.
Russian voters will also go to the polls to cast their ballots for 11 regional governors and 39 regional parliaments.
Elections in Russia are tightly controlled by the regime but can help the Kremlin gauge the level of public support for the invasion of Ukraine, now ongoing for more than four and a half years.
The ruling United Russia party, backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is broadly expected to maintain control over the Russian legislature.
With the exponential expansion of Ukraine's "deep-strike" drone campaign over the past 12 months, Russian cities on the Black Sea coast, usually popular with tourists in the warmer months, have increasingly coming under fire.
Ukrainian drone attacks have been particularly frequent in the cities of Novorossiysk and Tuapse, host to important military and oil-export infrastructure.
According to the Financial Times, Putin himself cancelled a scheduled visit to Sochi for a meeting of Russia's Valdai Discussion Club after the city was targeted by a mass drone attack on Sept. 9.
