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Vladimir Putin has been accused of interfering in the Stoke Central by-election.

The Russian regime has faced accusations of using online propaganda techniques to interfere in the US election in support of Donald Trump.

And now Ukip have warned the Russian President to stay out of tomorrow’s crucial by-election.

It comes after a raft of Twitter accounts which have previously supported Vladimir Putin apparently turned their attention to Stoke, praising Jeremy Corbyn and savaging Ukip leader Paul Nuttall who is standing in the by-election.

(Image: Getty)

Alex King, a researcher who tracks Russian social media propaganda, noticed that the network of accounts use stock images as profile pictures and tend to post in a co-ordinated pattern.

They also post repetitive messages and use lots of hashtags in a bid to come to the attention of a wide audience in a tactic often used by automated accounts, or "bots".

A Ukip spokesman told the Daily Telegraph: "I don't think people take a blind bit of notice.

"I don't think the good people of Stoke are now avidly watching Russian automated Twitter bots. Bot out Putin."

King claims dozens of accounts use visually similar memes and stock images as profile pictures.

Until recently, the accounts have almost exclusively posted pro-Kremlin propaganda.

But in recent weeks they have been increasingly posting pro-Corbyn and anti-Nuttall memes.

Russia has been accused of interfering in a string of democratic events in recent years - most notably the US Presidential election.

But US intelligence agencies have suggested they may have been involved in propaganda campaigns across Europe, in an attempt to destabilise Western democracies.

Labour’s Ben Bradshaw MP suggested earlier this year Russian agents could have influenced the result of the EU referendum .