Reporters have photographed what appears to be evidence of people voting twice in Russia’s presidential election. Vladimir Putin returned to power at the weekend with a 76.7% share of the vote.

In the town of Ust-Djeguta, in southern Russia near Georgia, Reuters reporters photographed 17 people who appeared to cast two ballots. Leila Koichuyeva, a member of the election commission, when shown the pictures of people who apparently voted twice, said: “They could be twins.”

Zukhra Chomaeva, another election official at polling station number 217, said: “How do I know if they’re the same person? They might look the same.”

A voter at polling station 216 (left) and at polling station 215. A Reuters reporter asked why he was voting a second time and he said: ‘No, this is the first time I voted.’ Photograph: Staff/Reuters

Ludmila Sklyarevskaya was among those photographed apparently voting twice, once at polling station 215 and once at polling station 216 in the town. She denied any wrongdoing.



Many of the people photographed appeared to be state employees: Sklyarevskaya was identified by a colleague as a hospital deputy director of health and safety.

Sklyarevskaya arrived to vote with a group of eight other women and one man through the gates of polling station 216. About 20 minutes later, the same group were observed voting again a few hundred metres away at polling station 215.

Approached about the incident, Sklyarevskaya said she had voted only once, at a third polling station, number 217. “Who directed you to do this investigation?” she asked. “You do not have the right to get involved in the electoral system.”

Ludmila Sklyarevskaya, who denied voting multiple times, casts a ballot at polling station number 215 (left) and at polling station number 216 in Ust-Djeguta, Russia. Photograph: Staff/Reuters

Official results released on Monday showed the three polling stations in Ust-Djeguta had an average turnout of 81.5% and delivered a majority for Putin of 89.86%. National turnout was 67%, according to the central election commission.

At polling station number 216, a count revealed there were not enough ballot papers to tally with the figure for Putin votes – 1,299 – that officials had provisionally pencilled in. When a recount produced the same outcome, the election officials said they were going home.

When Reuters reporters asked how the officials could go home at that point, the director of the school hosting the polling station said: “You want to cast doubt on Putin’s victory?”

A voter at polling station number 216 (left) and at polling station number 217. Photograph: Staff/Reuters

A Kremlin spokesman responding to the allegations said: “If these reports from the respected Reuters agency are backed up by corresponding statements to law enforcement agencies from the observers who were at each polling station, then it’s a worry. If they are not backed up, then it does not worry us at all.”



Reuters reporters also used mechanical counters to count everybody who cast a ballot at 12 polling stations. In some places, the discrepancies between the official count and the Reuters tally were small, but in nine of the 12 polling stations the discrepancies were 10% or greater.



In the 2016 Russian parliamentary elections, Reuters carried out a similar exercise. On that occasion, among turnout discrepancies, a Reuters reporter who had cast a ballot for a party other than Putin’s United Russia found that no vote for that party had been recorded at that polling station.