Story summary
Russian parliamentary elections, held from September 18-20, were widely expected to see United Russia, President Vladimir Putin's party, maintain its dominance over the State Duma (lower house of parliament). Despite critics arguing that the outcome was predetermined and would have no significant impact on the country’s future, Russian authorities made persistent efforts to ensure high voter participation under current electoral law. The elections came amidst increasing war fatigue and economic hardship due to Ukraine's drone strikes targeting oil refineries and warehouses within Russia, causing fuel shortages and internet blackouts.
Exit polls conducted by independent groups at embassies and consulates abroad revealed starkly different results from those inside Russia: New People, an opposition party, garnered around 45% of the votes compared to United Russia’s reported near-58% support domestically. These discrepancies highlight a divergence between domestic and international perceptions of Putin's popularity, with many Russian expatriates opposing the war and expressing anxiety over its economic and social consequences.
Critics argue that these elections are more about demonstrating the regime's resilience than reflecting genuine public sentiment or political contestation, given the tight control exercised by the Kremlin.
Written for “Russia's Wartime Elections” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 64 other(s) covering the same event.
Russia’s new parliament will include 49 deputies who have taken part in the war against Ukraine, officials have said after a landslide victory by the ruling United Russia party in widely criticised elections.
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officials → include → elections
The pro-Kremlin party won a record 355 seats in the country’s 450-seat Duma lower house of parliament, according to preliminary figures.
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party → win → figures
The result further consolidates Vladimir Putin’s grip on power and gives United Russia a super-majority bigger than its previous 2016 record of 343 seats.
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result → consolidate → seats
The polls are the first to be held since Putin’s 2022 full-scale invasion.
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polls → hold → invasion
United Russia’s general secretary, Vladimir Yakushev, said 86 veterans from Moscow’s “special military operation” were likely to have been elected.
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veterans → say → operation
“This is quite a substantial contribution,” he said.
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he → say → ?
He later revised the number to 49.
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He → revise → 49
Putin’s press spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the vote showed that Russians supported their longtime leader, who has ruled as prime minister or president since 2000.
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who → say → 2000
“These indicators, of course, point to the highest level of consolidation within Russian society around the head of state,” Peskov said.
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Peskov → point → state
Western governments denounced the polls held in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine as a “sham”.
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governments → denounce → sham
Russia’s supreme court last month banned the only party that opposes the war, Yabloko, from participating, leaving liberal voters with no option to express discontent.
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that → ban → discontent
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, called the election “another major setback for Russian democracy”.
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Kallas → call → democracy
“The Kremlin silenced dissent and shut out international election monitors,” Kallas wrote on X, adding: “The veneer of democracy is all that remains.”
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that → silence → democracy
The elections come amid speculation that Putin may announce a large mobilisation campaign this autumn, in an attempt to inject fresh momentum to Russia’s bogged down military campaign.
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Putin → come → campaign
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has suggested the Kremlin wants to recruit another 300,000 troops.
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Kremlin → suggest → troops
In recent months, Russia has escalated its bombardment, pummelling Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with jet-powered attack drones.
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Russia → escalate → drones
Ukraine has launched its own deep strikes, hitting Moscow’s oil refinery on Sunday, as part of what Zelenskyy has dubbed “long-range sanctions”.
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Zelenskyy → launch → what
Russia’s has also intensified its campaign to seize a string of cities in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, including Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
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Russia → intensify → Kramatorsk
So far, it has been unable to break through, with Ukrainian commanders reporting their own counteroffensive near the city of Lyman.
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commanders → break → Lyman
Inside Russia, criticism of the conflict is banned.
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criticism → ban → conflict
Anti-war bloggers have been arrested and jailed.
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bloggers → arrest → ?
A local politician, Boris Nadezhdin, who previously tried to stand in presidential elections on a peace ticket, was barred from September’s elections and accused of being a “foreign agent”.
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who → try → elections
The other parties that won seats in this month’s poll all support the “special military operation”.
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that → win → operation
They include the communists, who came second with 40 seats, the ultra-nationalist LDPR party, with 25, and the New People party, with 20.
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who → include → 20
Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, a Putin ally, was re-
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leader → re → ?
Russia’s elections chief, Ella Pamfilova, said United Russia had won a resounding victory with 57.83%, with 95% of ballots counted, up from the 49.8% it won in the last parliamentary election, in 2021.
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it → say → 2021
She praised voters for resisting “psychological pressure”.
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She → praise → pressure
Overnight, Russia carried out what Zelenskyy called a “brutal, targeted attack” on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.
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Zelenskyy → carry → Zaporizhzhia
He said a nine-storey residential building, a university building, a shopping centre, and a boiler house were all damaged, with five people injured.
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people → say → ?
A woman in Kharkiv region was killed in a drone strike.
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woman → kill → strike
Zelenskyy said: “Russia is not scaling back its escalatory actions and is signalling a readiness to expand the war.
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Russia → say → war
All this is happening against the backdrop of global stability already having been shattered by this war.
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this → happen → war
We must continue to pressure the aggressor to bring this war to an end.”
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We → continue → end
The Aporia
