Russia election begins with no real opposition amid Ukraine war shadow — SkimNews
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- Central Election Commission said turnout reached about 30% by late Friday among 111 million eligible voters in the three-day election, which for the first time offers online voting in a Russian parliamentary contest
- United Russia is all but certain to retain its grip on the 450-seat State Duma, with smaller "systemic opposition" parties also expected to keep their seats
- Russia's Supreme Court removed Yabloko — the only registered party openly critical of the Ukraine war — from the ballot last month, while some anti-war politicians were jailed or forced abroad before the campaign
- Voting in four annexed Ukrainian regions is included for the first time, alongside Crimea; in Russian-held Donetsk, armed soldiers stood near ballot boxes, and 14 Luhansk stations ran on backup power after Ukrainian drones damaged electrical lines
- Polling stations in Sochi were briefly closed over a drone attack threat, and one Krasnodar-region station was relocated after a drone shattered its windows — a Russian official said a polling station chief was killed and another wounded earlier this week in Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia
- European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand called voting in occupied territories "illegal" and said Russia chose not to invite OSCE observers; Kyiv warned Ukrainians that helping organize the balloting could lead to criminal liability
Why it matters: With United Russia certain to retain the 450-seat State Duma and the only openly anti-war party barred from the ballot, the election delivers pre-determined legitimacy for the Kremlin's war effort rather than a genuine verdict. Extending voting to four annexed Ukrainian regions entrenches territorial claims that Ukraine and the EU have rejected as illegal, while drone strikes physically disrupt polling stations on Russian soil.
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