Polling stations in the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi had to close their doors briefly due to a drone threat, DPA reported, BTA reported.
For security reasons, members of the polling stations, voters and election observers hid in bomb shelters, said Mayor Andrei Proshunin.
Shortly afterwards, he declared an end to the alert and allowed election day to continue. Russia is voting today in a State Duma election that is expected to solidify the dominance of pro-Kremlin parties in the lower house of the Russian parliament.
Ukraine has regularly used drones to attack Sochi and other cities in Russia as part of its resistance to Moscow's full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.
A total of 244 polling stations in Sochi are expected to remain open until the end of the election on Sunday. Air traffic over the popular tourist region has also been temporarily suspended due to concerns about drones.
More than 110 million eligible voters in the world's largest country are heading to the polls to elect 450 deputies to the new Duma. The opposition was not allowed to participate.
The first results are expected on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. local time in Kaliningrad (6:00 p.m. GMT), after polling day in the Russian Baltic Sea exclave has ended.
All ten parties on the ballot are considered close to the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin and support the war in Ukraine. In August, the only remaining opposition party, the liberal Yabloko, which was allowed to participate in the vote, was also eventually disqualified.
Putin called the elections a "collective contribution to Russia's victory" in Ukraine.
The vote, which critics have described as unfair in advance, is also being seen as a referendum on support for continuing the war, DPA notes.