My son-in-law was working at the polling station 91 as a member of a local election commission during parliamentary elections in Moscow. He took home a copy of the signed, authorized, stamped report on the election results. But when he compared it with this same polling station results posted on Internet by the Central Election Commission his amazement was full.

Only one figure coincided in both accounts, the number of votes collected by the Communist Party of Russia – 280. All

other figures were grossly distorted, all in favor of the United Russia, the party of Vladimir Putin. He and his wife, my daughter, posted both documents, the authorized and distorted reports, on Face book. All Russian Internet is full of such information. As for the polling station 91, its falsified account substantially enlarged the number of voter participation: in reality, 1048 people came to the polls while the distorted record numbers 1580. (According to Gazeta.ru, in Rostov oblast 146% of registered voters appeared. And this kind of falsification is typical.)

As a result of this and other tricks, the Putin’s party at this station got two and a half times more votes (1115) compared to the real number (445.) I am afraid, its overall official rate, 49,3%, on the national level should be halved, if not divided by three.

There is practically no opposition in the Russian parliament; all initiatives of the ruling United Russia party are heartily welcomed by its supporting parties. But as far as now the former total preponderance of Mr. Putin’s party belongs to the past, his allies’ positions were falsely strengthened. Say, on station 91 his ally Mr. Zhirinovsky (nationalistic Liberal-Democratic Party) according to the report got 257 votes (122 in reality.)  Two opposition parties in the list failed to overcome a very high “entrance threshold” of 7%. One of them, Yabloko, got only three votes, according to the new report. In reality it received... 271 votes, more than a quarter of all votes at that station. This kind of rigging seems unbelievable, but this is true! Rigging was open, universal and shameless everywhere in Russia. It was witnessed and reported by too many international and local observers. The abuse led to protests all over the world, and the Kremlin became much unnerved by thousands of people in the streets chanting “Putin is a thief” and “Russia without Putin.” The protest movement is spreading, and Putin’s plans to stay in power for twelve more years (at least!) seem under question.

Mr. Putin angrily responded by accusing the U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton of provoking civil unrest in Russia by sending “a signal” to “some actors in our country.” These actors “heard the signal and with the support of the U.S. State department began active work.” This harsh accusation, according to many observers, buries all hopes for “reset” in American-Russian relations initiated by President Obama. Prior to that, Moscow conducted presidential elections in the occupied South Ossetia, using the same dirty tricks to falsify their results.

The Kremlin openly endorsed and backed its stooge, and when the voters stubbornly voted for his opponent, Mrs. Dzhioyeva, and elected her, the South Ossetian Supreme Court charged her with vague electoral violations and prohibited her from standing in repeat election rescheduled to March. Alla Dzhioyeva is an anti-corruption crusader and former minister of health. South Ossetia now has no chance even to elect its own local govenment, harvesting the results of the Moscow yoke.