As the Russian legislative elections near, the Moscow propaganda is accusing the West of plotting to disrupt the vote — the same charge Western governments have repeatedly leveled against the Kremlin.Russia's upcoming elections for the State Duma, the lower house of the parliament, between Sept. 18 and 20 are seen by democracy watchdogs as little more than a rubber stamp for the regime's grip on power.Yet in recent months, Russian officials and media have stepped up claims that Europe plans to tamper with the process.Russia's foreign intelligence alleged on Aug. 31 that the EU plans "provocations" at polling stations in Russia and abroad and, together with Ukraine, plots cyberattacks against Russia's election infrastructure.Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in comments reported on Sept. 8, claimed the EU is training "secret" monitors to watch the Duma vote.And Vasily Piskaryov, head of the State Duma commission "investigating foreign interference," alleged that "extremist" groups plan to conduct "fake exit polls" at Russian embassies.Piskaryov also accused "European NGOs," designated as "undesirable organizations," of recruiting Russian-speaking citizens to pose as fake electoral experts and spread disinformation amid the election campaign.Russian officials have not provided evidence of their claims — which were widely reported by Russian state and pro-state media — and the EU has dismissed the accusations in comments to the Kyiv Independent."It is not the first time that Russian authorities accuse Western states of interfering in Russian elections without any compelling evidence," Julia Smirnova, a disinformation researcher at the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (CeMAS), a Germany-based monitoring agency, told the Kyiv Independent.Smirnova listed three main goals of the narrative: discrediting any criticism by the exiled Russian opposition, casting Russia as a country besieged by foreign powers, and distracting from its own interference abroad.Siege mentalityDemocracy watchdogs regard Russian elections as neither free nor fair, citing vote-buying, coercion, and a crackdown on the opposition, according to the U.S.-based NGO Freedom House.While the ruling United Russia party is all but certain to win, certain Kremlin-aligned parties are allowed to run as "systemic opposition" to create the appearance of democratic competition.Parties diverting from the Kremlin line — like the "pro-peace" Yabloko party — are not allowed to run. "Non-systemic" opposition politicians have been imprisoned, branded extremists, forced into exile, or killed.Russian authorities have also been systematically dismantling any independent monitoring infrastructure.Golos, Russia's only independent election watchdog, was designated a "foreign agent" in 2013 and later dissolved.Only state-sanctioned actors are permitted to monitor Russian elections, with independent NGOs and international organizations, such as the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, being shut out.In violation of international law, Russia is also planning to hold parliamentary elections in the occupied Ukrainian territories, which it regards as its "new" regions.Expecting widespread criticism of the elections' legitimacy, the Kremlin is preemptively dismissing such criticism as outside meddling."The recent accusations are aimed, firstly, at discrediting any criticism of the Russian regime by exile media or politicians as foreign interference," Smirnova told the Kyiv Independent.They are also meant to reinforce the image "of Russia being under attack by foreign powers."As the expert notes, the Kremlin has similarly denounced Western support for Russian civil society during the Russian elections in 2011 and 2012, or their coverage by Western media, as "interference."And the Kremlin propaganda launched a similar campaign ahead of the previous State Duma elections in 2021, accusing the West at the time of trying to discredit the process, and Western media of "spreading fakes" about the election.Distraction and 'whatabaoutsim'Yet another goal of Russia's unfounded accusations, Smirnova says, is the Kremlin's attempt to distract from its own election interference.When Lavrov accused Europe of plotting to send "secret monitors" to the Duma elections, he also lashed out at the EU over alleged tampering in the Romanian presidential election.Romania's constitutional court in December 2024 annulled the results of a presidential vote and ordered a rerun after Romanian intelligence identified a Russian-backed social media campaign to prop up the fringe far-right presidential candidate Calin Georgescu.German authorities reported a Russian-linked disinformation campaign before the regional election in Saxony-Anhalt — won by the far-right, Kremlin-friendly AfD party — and France is investigating possible Russian interference ahead of its own 2027 presidential vote."By accusing the EU of what Russia is currently doing itself in European countries, Russian intelligence agencies are using the tactics of 'whataboutism' and hollowing out the notion of election interference," Smirnova commented.Editor's note: This article was published as part of the Fighting Against Conspiracy and Trolls (FACT) project, an independent, non-partisan hub launched in mid-2025 under the umbrella of the EU Digital Media Observatory (EDMO). 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