Moscow Did Not Issue a Warning About a Drone Attack to Avoid Lowering Voter Turnout — ISW
During the large-scale drone attack on Moscow on September 20, Russian authorities did not warn residents of the danger. According to ISW analysts, sirens and SMS alerts may not have been used in order to avoid affecting voter turnout in the State Duma elections.
On September 20, the last day of voting in the State Duma elections, authorities in the Moscow Region did not sound air raid sirens or send SMS alerts about the threat of an attack—even though they had previously done so even during much smaller strikes.
At the same time, according to analysts’ observations, the authorities did resort to one of their typical countermeasures—restricting mobile communications—but without providing any official explanation for this move.
Residents of the Moscow Region complained on Governor Andrei Vorobyov’s Telegram channel about the lack of warnings—before comments on the channel were disabled.
According to the ISW’s assessment, Russian authorities apparently prioritized high voter turnout over public safety—even though Ukrainian forces were attacking strategic oil and logistics infrastructure, and had made a point of not targeting polling stations or other electoral infrastructure.
As a result of Russian attacks on September 20 in the Zhytomyr region, a fire broke out at a transportation infrastructure facility, and dry grass also caught fire.
The death toll from Russian attacks in the Kyiv region has risen to four. A child who was injured during a strike on the Vyshhorod district died in the hospital. Among the dead are three children and a woman.
Due to the fires in the Kyiv region, the capital may experience smoke and the smell of burning.
