Russians vote in dozens of local elections targeted by Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny

On September 13, Russians voted in several local elections targeted by Navalny that will gauge ruling United Russia party’s power and people’s discontent following suspected “intentional poisoning” of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny with ‘vichok’. According to state-run media reports, nearly 160,000 candidates are vying for Russia’s parliament seats, as well as several goverrs are being elected. Many regions h communist or nationalist political players for Navalny’s campaign that raises speculations that this could be reason for Putin’s political rival’s nearly fatal attack. 

44-year-old critic of Putin h sought to weaken United Russia's grip on regional power and h urged citizens and supporters to vote against ruling party. He h n fainted on a commercial plane. Germany confirmed nerve nt vichok poisoning as cause of Navalny’s coma and termed it as “an attempt to murder,” after which, a condemnation against Russia erupted worldwide by international communities. Germany’s chancellor Merkel called for a thorough Russian investigation. According to reports, EU, NATO, and several Western governments have asked Moscow to provide an explanation. 

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However, Russia accused Berlin of failing to share “solid evidence and openly rejected accusations that Russian leer Putin was responsible for poisoning of his political rival. In an dress to press, Kremlin said re were grounds for sanctions to be imposed against Moscow. Furr, Russia trashed allegations of “intentional poisoning” of Navalny by state authorities. On September 12, Navalny’s allies urged Kremlin critics for a "smart voting" strategy as it designated thousands of pro-Navalny politicians on ballots asking supporters to vote m in a huge turut. anti-corruption campaigner h umpteen allies contesting seats in city councils of vosibirsk and Tomsk in Siberia, according to state-run reports.

Use of chemical weaponry

Earlier, condemning Russia’s government, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell called for sanctions. He demanded a joint international response that reserves right to take appropriate actions, including through restrictive measures. He said in a press release, " use of chemical weapons is completely unacceptable under any circumstances, constitutes a serious breach of international law and international human rights standards.” Furr, European Union officials called on Russia for an independent international probe and urged to cooperate with  Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

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