MOSCOW - Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who emerged victorious from the presidential elections, said he hopes all reports on election abuses will be thoroughly probed.
Putin visited the Vybory 2012 (Elections 2012) situations center at the Moscow State Law Academy on Tuesday and talked with election monitors of the Corps for Honest Elections and with activists of the Citizens for Honest Elections project.
"Abuses did take place, naturally. All of them must be brought to light, probed and made clear to everyone," Putin told young lawyers working at the center.
He also expressed the hope that all complaints will be investigated and referred to specialized agencies where they will be examined. "I hope the situation will be under maximum control and monitoring, so there will be no foul play," Putin remarked.
Young people in the audience told Putin that reports they have received are not proven fraud, but complaints, and that not all of them have been confirmed.
"On many occasions we would be informed about election fraud, but we would then checked the polling station in question online to see that there were no abuses involved," student Yuliana said. Yuliana is an activist of an organization of citizens with disabilities. Special working places were provided for such monitors at polling stations.
The bulk of complaints arrived before noon on March 4 and then there was a lull. "Voters must have realized by then that we were monitoring the situation in a real-time mode," she said.
Putin was told that, "the center received 4,500 complaints two months before the polling day and on the day votes were cast."
He was also told that a report on complaints and investigations will be sent to him.
