Vladimir Putin's press secretary has stated that Russian democracy is "the best in the world" just weeks after the president's biggest critic died in prison.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in the IK-3 penal colony north of the Arctic Circle, about 1,900 km northeast of Moscow just weeks after the announcement.
An election is set to be held in Russia next week, with Putin facing three candidates who have voluntarily abstained from criticizing him.
Earlier today, Roman Ivanov, an independent journalist, was sentenced to seven years in prison for spreading "false information" about the Russian military. Ivanov faced charges for reporting on the Bucha massacre and other alleged war crimes by the Russian military during the invasion of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin is set to be re-elected as the President of Russia
Reuters
Speaking at a Russian youth forum in Sochi on the Black Sea coast, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: "We will no longer tolerate criticism of our democracy. Our democracy is the best."
It is not the first time Peskov has weighed in on the state of Russian democracy. Last year, he said in an interview: "Our presidential election is not really a democracy, it is a costly bureaucracy." He would later claim this statement was "misconstrued".
It follows the disqualification of the only two significant anti-war opposition candidates, Ekaterina Duntsova and Boris Nadezhdin, from the race.
The Russian foreign ministry announced that it had summoned the US ambassador in Moscow and warned her against "attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov praised Russia's democracy
Reuters
A spokesperson from the foreign secretary said in a statement that such behaviour would be "firmly and resolutely suppressed, up to and including the expulsion as 'persona non grata' of United States Embassy staff involved in such actions."
A spokesperson for the US Embassy said they had no immediate comment.
The foreign ministry also demanded that the US Embassy cease supporting three American non-profits that it said were running "anti-Russian programmes" in the country aimed at "recruiting 'agents of influence' under the guise of educational and cultural exchanges."
Earlier this week, the Kremlin said that Russia will not meddle in the November US presidential election, and dismissed American findings that Moscow orchestrated campaigns to sway both the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections.
Flowers laid at the grave of Alexi Navalny
Reuters
Peskov said in a lecture to students: "We never interfered in elections in the United States.
"And this time, we do not intend to interfere... We do not dictate to anyone how to live - but we don't want others to dictate to us."
A 2019 report by US Special Counsel Robert S Mueller found that Russia had "interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion" while US intelligence believes Russia interfered in the 2020 election.