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Russian State Duma elections began Friday — the first since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — including in its occupied areas there, where Russia will look to reinforce the illusion of popular support for its full-scale invasion and annexation of eastern Ukraine.
OSCE election observers are not invited to monitor the outcome of the elections, a telling signal, critics say, that the Kremlin has no intentions of conducting free and fair elections.
“Russia’s refusal to invite an election observation mission seriously breaches its international commitments and shows a worrying disregard for democratic standards. Election observation is not optional — it is something that all OSCE participating States have agreed to, and it is a cornerstone of transparency and accountability,” OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Pere Joan Pons told Fox News Digital.
Russia enacted strict censorship laws after the invasion, criminalizing any dissent about the operation or the armed forces and spreading misinformation about the war.
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As the Kremlin has tried to keep popular support in favor of its war against Ukraine, a Russian court sentenced Lev Shlosberg, a vocal critic and leader of one of Russia’s only opposition parties to over 11 years in a penal colony for criticizing the war. Prior to Shlosberg’s sentencing, Russia’s Supreme Court banned his opposition Yabloko Party from participating in September’s Duma elections.
There are nine parties on the list, all supportive of Putin, including the Kremlin’s own United Party in the elections, The Associated Press reported.
Shortly after Russia’s invasion in 2022, Moscow unilaterally annexed portions of occupied Ukrainian territory in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. In 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation allowing elections to take place in the occupied territories. Ukraine and the international community do not recognize Russian sovereignty over the occupied regions.
Elections in Russia, and by extension in the occupied territory, are seen by his critics as window-dressing opportunities used by Putin to highlight his narrative that the war in Ukraine and the annexation of Ukrainian territory was a legitimate and lawful action.
Keti Korkiya from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies Russia Program told Fox News Digital that, “Russians are ready to support, symbolically, Putin, the Kremlin and the war, but if they have to pay a personal price, or even [an] economic price, they are unwilling to do that. That’s why Russia has not done another wave of mobilization.”
The upcoming elections, like most elections in Russia, will take place under a climate of pervasive fear and manipulation, not the freedom to exercise a democratic right, according to critics.
“It’s a total regime of terror,” Jaroslava Barbieri, research fellow at the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House, told Fox News Digital.
The last time Russian elections were held in the occupied territories was in 2024, when Putin secured a fifth term in office, winning nearly 90% of the vote. Residents in occupied Ukraine were forced to acquire Russian passports, which is how authorities are able to compile lists of voters.
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“Election officials are escorted by Russian soldiers carrying ballot boxes door-to-door. Ostensibly framed as a security measure against Ukrainian partisan strikes, this is about direct intimidation, and it is a flagrant violation of international law,” Barbieri added.
President Vladimir Putin said in August that the State Duma elections will reaffirm Russia’s stability on the world stage, noting the election will highlight the “maturity” of Russia’s political system and resilience in the face of foreign aggression, according to Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.
Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) approved new electoral regulations that will be implemented in occupied Ukraine. The Commission stressed the importance of early and at-home voting to prevent large gatherings which could be exploited by Ukrainian attacks.
Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs posted on X that preparations for overseas voting in Russia’s State Duma elections are nearly complete. It said there are 326 polling stations set up at Russian embassies and consulates in 152 countries.
Volodymyr Ariev, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament, said people living in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories should boycott the staged Russian elections.
“Any sort of elections held in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories is illegal and a breach of international law. Ukraine will never recognize any person ‘elected’ as a member of Parliament in the temporarily occupied territories,” Ariev told Fox News Digital.
Ariev said people living in the occupied east should leave their homes and spend election day someplace else, to avoid being coerced into voting.
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Ivana Stradner, who focuses on Russian information security and influence operations at the FDD, says as Russia’s battlefield momentum stalls, the costs of war mount, and Ukraine brings the conflict to Russia’s doorstep, Putin is seeking political legitimacy this election.
“The State Duma elections give the Kremlin a chance to manufacture the appearance of public support… not only for United Russia, but for continuing Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. When the battlefield gets harder to sell, the ballot box becomes another way to sell the war,” Stradner told Fox News Digital.
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In the 2024 presidential elections, the annexed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic delivered well above the current targeted 70% support, voting well over 90% for President Putin.
“Apparently, in Putin’s version of democracy, the voters get to choose… just not the result,” Stradner added. The three days of voting ends on September 20.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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