Troops enter Moscow amid vote tensions

The units of interior troops have been sent to Moscow to maintain law and order in Moscow, Vasily Panchenko, the chairman of the press service of the Interior Troops of Russia said.

Russian bloggers have posted many messages today and uploaded their photos of the columns of military vehicles moving in Moscow and near the city. Russian radio station broadcast similar information. 

Eyewitnesses said that they had seen military trucks and soldiers near "1905 Year Street" subway station ("Ulitsa 1905 Goda). The trucks were seen on Pushkinskaya Square too. The columns of the Interior Ministry were traveling towards the city center of Yaroslavsky Highway, Kutuzovsky Avenue and Novy Arbat Street, Svobodnaya Pressa said. 

According to the press center of Russia's Interior Ministry, the movement of police officers and military men in the Moscow region is connected with high alert for the period of the parliamentary elections, Gazeta.ru reports. 

"It was officially said that the troops would be set on alert for the time of the elections. The movements are connected with the replacement of military personnel," Interior Ministry officials said. 

Vasily Panchenkov, the chairman of Russia's internal troops said that the relocation of military men towards Moscow was being conducted in accordance with the instructions from the Central Directorate of the Interior Ministry. "There is only one goal for that: to guarantee people's safety," the official said, according to Vesti.ru. 

"The military men of internal troops can be attracted for maintaining law and order and for guaranteeing people's safety. The number of the personnel used for the purpose is determined by the Central Directorate of the Interior Ministry in the city of Moscow," Panchenkov said.