Hackers breach Russia's 'unhackable' election system ahead of State Duma vote

Hackers identifying themselves as CikLeak announced they had penetrated Russia's Central Election Commission's automated voting platform, GAS Elections 2.0, extracting internal documents, meeting recordings, passwords and staff contacts. The group emphasized that the motive was to prove the vulnerability of the system ahead of the September 18 State Duma elections, rather than to harvest personal information or alter vote counts.

This breach challenges the claim made by Ella Pamfilova, the CEC chair and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, that the system was "impossible to hack." United Russia, Putin's ruling party, is widely expected to retain its majority in the 450-seat lower house, but the hack could influence public perception of the election's legitimacy. CikLeak urged Russians to vote in person on the final day to make any potential manipulation more difficult and to signal a desire for peace. The incident comes as the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year and opposition party Yabloko remains barred from the ballot despite growing support in some polls.