Russia Accuses Biden Administration of Meddling in Presidential Election

Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) on Monday accused U.S. President Joe Biden's administration of attempting to meddle in Russia's coming presidential election.

Without offering evidence, the SVR said the Biden administration was using non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to try to affect voter turnout. According to the agency, the U.S. seeks to undermine the results of the election by dissuading voters from going to the polls.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to win the election set for Friday to Sunday by a landslide. Opinion polls show Putin enjoys major support from his nation's citizens, but Western analysts have long accused Russia of rigging its elections.

"According to information received by the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, the administration of Joe Biden is setting a task for American NGOs to achieve a decrease in turnout," the SVR said in its statement. "At the instigation of Washington, calls are being spread through opposition Internet resources for Russian citizens to ignore the elections."

"This is another false narrative of the Kremlin. Every day, Russian officials spread disinformation against those who question their concocted narratives, and especially Russia's war against Ukraine," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement.

"The United States does not take sides in elections; our only interest is in the democratic process. The Russian people deserve free and fair elections, and the ability to choose between candidates," the spokesperson's statement continued. "Russians, like everyone else, deserve access to impartial information to help them choose the leadership and future direction of their country."

Earlier this month, independent Russian outlet Meduza reported that Putin's office is concerned that Russia's presidential election won't meet voter turnout expectations. According to Meduza, the Kremlin has been pushing for a high turnout to counter widespread accusations that elections in Russia are rigged.

The SVR suggested that the Biden administration is working to make the turnout low as a way to criticize Putin's likely victory as illegitimate, with the assumption being that Russians won't vote if they believe the election was decided before any ballots were cast.

"The plan is simple in the American way. According to Washington's calculations, the resulting 'reduction in turnout' will give the West a reason to question the election results," the SVR report said.

Elsewhere in its statement, the SVR claimed the U.S. plans on using cyber means to target online voting.

"With the participation of leading U.S. IT specialists, it is planned to carry out cyberattacks on the remote electronic voting system, which will make it impossible to count the votes of a significant proportion of Russian voters," the SVR said.

The statement from the Russian intelligence agency also suggested that the United States' attempt to undermine the election could backfire, citing the low percentage of votes that European leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz received when they were elected to office.

"Or maybe this is a subtle hint from the Americans to Rishi Sunak, who cleverly took the chair of the British Prime Minister in 2022, bypassing the general vote of citizens. Now the current prime minister is in every possible way delaying the holding of early parliamentary elections, the results of which will clearly cost him his post," the SVR wrote.

Update 03/12/23 5:36 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include comment from a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State.