Elections finish in 1 hour in Moscow, in 2 in Kaliningrad

Parliamentary elections finish in an hour in the Russian capital Moscow and in two hours in the western-most region of Kaliningrad. Russians are voting for the parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma.

International observers said previuosly that no serious violations were registered, RIA Novosti reported.

However, the Communist Party and the liberal Yabloko party complained on Sunday of extensive election violations aimed at boosting United Russia’s vote count, including party observers being hindered in their work, The Washington Post reports.

Violations were also reported by individuals, who posted video records on the net showing ballot-box stuffing.

Tensions are growing, as many Russians don't believe that the polls are fair. According to a recent report by the independent polling Levada-Center, only 7 per cent of the voters believe that the elections are absolutely fair.

In the western Russian city of Bryansk, an unidentified assailant threw a firebomb into the window of the local United Russia office, The Washington Post cites Associated Press as saying. No one was hurt and the fire was quickly extinguished, according to local police.

Several independent news agencies' websites are down due to hacker attacks. Among others the website of the Ekho Moskvy radio is unavailable to users. So is the website of the Russia's only indepnedent monitoring agency Golos. The agency was accused of electoral law violations and cooperating with illegal political parties.

Prime Minister Vladimir said on Sunday that foreign countries were trying to interfere in Russia's elections.

The police in Moscow were mobilized to prevent possible protests. Several unregistered political parties of socialist, nationalistic and liberal orientation called upon the Russian people to join their demonstrations.