Russia’s Parliamentary Election Extends to Occupied Ukraine, Where Voters Cannot Choose the Outcome

Russia’s State Duma elections opened Friday in the country’s first parliamentary vote since its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Voting is also being held in Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow, a move widely viewed as an effort to project popular backing for Russia’s war and its claimed annexation of parts of eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin did not invite election monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or OSCE, to observe the vote. Critics say the decision underscores Moscow’s lack of interest in holding elections that meet standards for fairness and transparency.

“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 News Media.

Since launching the invasion, Russia has imposed sweeping censorship measures that criminalize criticism of the military campaign and armed forces, as well as the dissemination of what authorities describe as false information about the war.

As the Kremlin works to preserve public support for the war, a Russian court sentenced Lev Shlosberg — an outspoken antiwar figure and leader in one of the country’s few remaining opposition movements — to more than 11 years in a penal colony over his criticism of the conflict. Before his sentencing, Russia’s Supreme Court barred his Yabloko Party from taking part in September’s Duma elections.

Nine parties are on the ballot, and all support Putin, including the Kremlin-aligned United Party, The Associated Press reported.

Soon after the 2022 invasion, Moscow unilaterally declared the annexation of occupied areas in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Putin signed legislation in 2023 authorizing elections in those occupied territories. Ukraine and the wider international community do not recognize Russian sovereignty over the regions.

Putin’s critics see elections in Russia — and especially those conducted in occupied Ukrainian land — as political theater designed to reinforce the Kremlin’s claim that both the war and the seizure of Ukrainian territory are legitimate and lawful.

Keti Korkiya of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia Program told News Media that Russians may be prepared to offer symbolic support for Putin, the Kremlin and the war, but are far less willing to bear individual or financial costs. “That’s why Russia has not done another wave of mobilization,” she said.

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 News Media.

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 News Media.

Ariev said people living in the occupied east should leave their homes and spend election day someplace else, to avoid being coerced into voting.

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 News Media.

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.