There is no violation in distribution of Russian passports to residents of Donbas a few minutes before their vote – CEC of Russia

The CEC of Russia sees no problem in the fact that the Donbas residents in the Rostov oblast voted in the election to the State Duma a few minutes after receiving a Russian passport. This was stated by chairman of the Commission Ella Pamfilova.

"This is not the first time in the territory of the Rostov oblast when polling stations were specially organized along the border for those who do not have a residence permit in Russia. If they have a passport, they vote. The most important thing is that a person gets a passport before he/she goes to vote".

The curators of the "electoral assault forces" from the so-called "Donetsk Republic social movement" confirmed that hundreds of Ukrainian citizens came to the border villages of the Rostov oblast on the days of voting in the State Duma election, "acquired Russian citizenship" under a simplified procedure and went to polling stations with just issued passports of the Russian Federation. In particular, one of the curators explained in a conversation with the Meduza Russian news outlet that "the buses perform two functions at once – they bring people to obtain Russian passports and immediately take them to the polling station".

"He says that bus trips for obtaining Russian passports were organized in advance, and the fact that now the receipt of documents and voting takes place at the same time is nothing more than a mere coincidence", - the news outlet writes.