Russia election begins with no real opposition amid Ukraine war shadow — SkimNews
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- Russia opened three days of parliamentary voting on Friday — its first since the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine — with online voting enabled and the Central Election Commission reporting roughly 30% turnout by late Friday among 111 million eligible voters.
- United Russia is all but certain to retain control of the 450-seat State Duma, alongside 'systemic opposition' parties that vote with the Kremlin; the liberal Yabloko party, the only registered group that openly opposed the war, was barred from the ballot by Russia's Supreme Court last month.
- For the first time, residents of four Russian-annexed Ukrainian regions plus Crimea are participating in a Russian parliamentary vote, prompting Kyiv to declare the balloting 'illegal' and the EU to denounce it as a 'blatant violation of international law.'
- Ukrainian drone attacks physically disrupted voting: polling stations in Sochi were briefly closed over a drone threat, one Krasnodar-region station was relocated after a drone shattered its windows, and 14 polling stations in Russian-held Luhansk ran on backup power after drones damaged electrical lines.
- Putin cast his ballot online and told voters their 'choice and resolve' would demonstrate millions stand behind Russia's fighters, while AP interviews with voters surfaced competing priorities — ending the war, closing the rich-poor gap, and securing 'victory.'
- The election comes after a summer of Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian oil refineries that triggered a fuel crisis, with drone hits on Wildberries and Ozon warehouses bringing the war's economic toll into ordinary Russian daily life.
Why it matters: With no opposition on the ballot and annexed Ukrainian territories included, the election functions as a legitimacy instrument for the Kremlin rather than a genuine contest — the EU's condemnation and Kyiv's threats of criminal liability for organizers deepen Russia's diplomatic isolation but cannot alter the predetermined outcome. The war is not just a backdrop but an active disruption: drone attacks forced polling station closures, shattered a station's windows in Krasnodar, and knocked out power at 14 Luhansk stations, exposing voters physically to the conflict the vote is meant to ratify.
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