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President Putin called on the parties to maintain a "patriotic cohesion" in the face of possible attempts at foreign influence in domestic political processes.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called to defend September parliamentary from foreign meddling.
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"We will not allow any blow to Russia's sovereignty," he stressed during a video conference with leaders of parties represented in the Lower House (Duma).
"We have an obligation to defend that election from any attempts of foreign meddling," he pointed out, adding that he expects the parliamentary groups to maintain a single position on the issue.
"Patriotic cohesion is indispensable, especially in the case of parties that have an ideology and a real influence on society. That prestige must be maintained."
Palestinian health workers unload the first arriving shipment of doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19 coronavirus disease, on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom border crossing south of Rafah in the southern #Gaza Strip on February 17, 2021. Photo by Ashraf Amra pic.twitter.com/9KUR5BiqTs
— Ashraf Amra (@amra_ashraf) February 17, 2021
The videoconference also included Duma President Vyacheslav Volodin and leaders such as Sergey Neverov (United Russia), Guennadi Zyuganov (Communist Party), Vladimir Zhirinovsky (Liberal Democratic Party), and Sergey Mironov (A Just Russia).
On September 19, the Duma will renew its 450 lawmakers, 225 of whom will be elected through party lists. To gain access to the seats that are distributed by lists, parties must obtain at least 5 percent of the votes.
In the 2016 elections, the ruling party United Russia obtained 54.2 percent of the vote and won 343 seats.
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