"The State Department spokesperson Ned Price accused Russian authorities of widespread violations of the principles of free vote during the recent regional and municipal elections as well as persecution of opposition candidates and activists," he said in a commentary posted on the embassy’s Telegram channel, TASS reported.
"We urge the administration to refer to the data released by the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Russia and abstain from any unfounded statements. The United States would rather pay attention to the transparency of their own electoral processes instead of interfering with our internal affairs," the commentary reads.
Earlier, CEC chief Ella Pamfilova said that following the elections, not a single complaint had been registered that could have impacted their results. Russia held elections for 15 top regional officials on September 9-11 (14 of them were direct elections, while the head of the Adygeya Republic was elected by its legislature).
The other elections were for lawmakers of six regional legislatures, 12 city councils in regional capitals and deputies of local self-government bodies. Online voting was available in eight regions, including Moscow.