Electronic voting terminals in Moscow experienced a technical glitch on the first day of voting, briefly going offline, Moscow City Election Commission Chairwoman Olga Kirillova said.

Kirillova said specialists believed the disruption may have been connected to cyberattacks targeting information systems, The Caspian Post reports, citing Russian media.

“There was indeed a technical glitch yesterday. For a short period of time, our terminals went out of service. But, according to specialists, this could have been related to attacks by the adversary against information systems,” Kirillova said.

Earlier, Central Election Commission Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova said the commission had taken potential communication disruptions in some Russian regions into account when organising remote electronic voting. Experts had developed a special contingency plan to address possible interruptions.

Pamfilova had also previously reported an attempted cyberattack targeting information resources belonging to Russia’s electoral system. She said the attack was unsuccessful and did not interfere with the commission’s operations, adding that the attackers had “got hit hard in the face.”

Russia is holding elections for the State Duma from September 18 to 20. Moscow is among the regions where voters can cast ballots electronically, with the city offering both online voting and electronic voting terminals at polling stations.