Russia Wraps up First Wartime Parliamentary Election with Kremlin Dominance All but Assured – WTOP News
- From September 18 to 20, 2026, Russia held State Duma elections, staging voting in temporarily occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, which Ukraine's Central Election Commission declared illegitimate.
- Russian authorities illegally created 11 single-mandate districts on occupied Ukrainian territory, assigning over half a million 'phantom' voters to rolls for areas like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk despite lacking ground control.
- The pro-democratic Yabloko party briefly gained viral social media support for its anti-war platform on TikTok, but the party was banned from the ballot by court decision just two weeks after registration.
- Analysts describe the Russian political system as 'managed democracy' with no room for contrarianism; support for United Russia, the party associated with President Vladimir Putin, is polling at nearly 40 percent.
- Continued Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian warehouses have cost the country's e-commerce industry around $4.74 billion this year, making the Duma vote a critical litmus test of Putin's hold on power amid economic strain.
360 Articles
360 Articles
How Russia used parliamentary elections to legitimize occupation of Ukrainian territories
As Russia held its parliamentary elections from Sept. 18 to 20, it also organized, for the first time, the vote in Ukrainian territories that Russia illegally claims as its own. Ukraine and the European Union have rejected the vote as illegal. The purpose of holding the sham election in occupied territories goes far beyond choosing Russian lawmakers. Russia uses the elections in Ukrainian territories under military occupation to project the imag…
Russia Holds General Elections Even in Occupied Ukrainian Territories; Soldiers Carry Ballot Boxes Through Villages; Putin's Party Wins Landslide Victory; EU Calls Election Fake. In the State Duma elections held from the 18th to the 20th—the first since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022—President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party is expected to win the most seats in history. Russia
Norway, R. United States and Canada Call the Last Elections in Russia "Farce", Which Triumphed Putin
Norway, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom condemned this Monday that Russia’s legislative elections also included the occupied Ukrainian territories and called it a violation of international law. The elections gave a clear legislative victory for Vladimir Putin, whose government had left out the opposition Yabloko party. Countries question elections in Russia ... Continue reading “Norway, R. United States and Canada label th…
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, UK jointly condemn Russian elections in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories
Holding elections to the Russian State Duma in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, as Russia did in Crimea, as well as in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhia, constitutes a gross violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and independence, as well as the UN Charter.
Thus, the head of Eurodiplomatics reacted to the "elections" in the Russian State.
The entire process of parliamentary elections in Russia and the composition of the Russian Parliament have no leftovers of legitimacy, and have been noted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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