Russia Blocks Jailed Kremlin Critic's Voting Site Ahead of Polls

Last week the media regulator urged Google and Apple to remove an app dedicated to Alexei Navalny's "Smart Voting" campaign from their app stores

Russian authorities on Monday blocked a website of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny that instructed supporters how to vote out candidates from the ruling party in polls later this month. In a statement to AFP, state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said that access to the website votesmart.appspot.com had been blocked in Russia "because it is being used to continue the work... of an extremist organisation." Parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place on September 17-19, with nearly all vocal Kremlin critics including Navalny's allies barred from running. Navalny, 45, has this year seen his organisations declared "extremist" and banned, while his top aides have fled the country.