Legislative elections in Russia, held from September 18 to 20, have been marked by various disputes and incidents involving election observers. These observers are individuals or groups who monitor the electoral process to ensure it is conducted fairly and transparently. In Moscow, a communist candidate explained the removal of an observer by stating the individual had "walked too much in the office," with the assistance of police. Similar reports have emerged from across the country, with independent Russian-language media outlets like Current Time documenting these events. In another Moscow polling station, a journalist and an observer from the Iabloko party, a political group that opposes Russia’s war in Ukraine, were denied entry. Iabloko had been excluded from the elections by the Supreme Court in August, which limited their ability to participate in the process. Meanwhile, in Buryatia, a region located on the shores of Lake Baikal, communist party observers faced a different form of obstruction. After being barred from entering a hotel the previous day, their car tires were slashed during the night of September 18 to 19. In Ufa, a city in western Russia, the incidents were less violent but still unusual. According to Vajnye Istorii, an investigative Russian website in exile, election commission members reportedly offered vodka to observers from the regional group Union Civil, and in some cases, champagne. Such actions could have been used as a justification for their expulsion, raising questions about the fairness of the process. Some of these incidents were recorded and documented, with Current Time reporting on similar occurrences in Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi republic. Amid these reports, Russian authorities have claimed a "record" voter turnout, despite what they describe as "hysterical efforts" by Russia’s adversaries to undermine the election. Meanwhile, other international developments, such as a journalist’s infiltration of a network of "disposable agents" recruited by Moscow and the situation in occupied regions of Ukraine, continue to shape the broader context of Russia’s political landscape.