More than 1,300 observers from Yabloko and the Communist Party were not allowed into polling stations

Radio Svoboda reports, citing a count by the regional outlet 7x7, that on the first voting day, 18 September 2026, about 350 Yabloko observers and 984 Communist Party observers were refused entry to polling stations in Moscow, St Petersburg and several regions. The largest group, 481 Communist observers, was refused in Voronezh region, where the formal reason given was a missing date beside the signature of the candidate who submitted the list; more than 200 in Tyumen region could not be admitted because their lists could not be loaded into the GAS Vybory system. Citing Fontanka, it reports that several Yabloko observers and commission members, notably in St Petersburg, received summonses to military enlistment offices for that morning.