Russia’s Central Elections Commission announced on Sunday that the United Russia party, which supports President Vladimir Putin, was leading in local elections in four Ukrainian regions that are currently occupied by Russian forces. These regions were claimed by the Kremlin as annexed territories, despite not having full military control over them. However, Ukraine and its allies have dismissed these elections as illegitimate.
The Commission’s data, posted on their website, supposedly showed that the electorate in these war-torn territories, where Ukraine has opened new fronts, had supported United Russia in the initial count. Meanwhile, Russia is also holding elections across the country, leading up to the presidential elections scheduled for next year, which are expected to extend Putin’s rule until at least 2030. His opponents are either in exile or imprisoned, and Moscow has criminalized criticism of its actions in Ukraine, resulting in the detention of thousands who speak out against it.
To facilitate the voting process, authorities set up mobile polling booths in annexed Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. However, it was reported that a polling station in Zaporizhzhia was attacked by a Ukrainian drone. Voting also took place in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Ukrainian security services have compiled a list of “collaborators” involved in organizing the voting, and they have promised retribution.
‘Live in peace’
In Rostov-on-Don, a city close to the Ukrainian border that was recently attacked by drones, two voters expressed their concerns about the conflict. A 40-year-old woman named Nina Antonova said, “We just want to live in peace with our children.” An 84-year-old pensioner, Anatoli, who didn’t give his last name, stated, “The war is the only problem we are worried about. We don’t have any other concerns.” In Moscow, where the mayoral vote was taking place, there were very few campaign posters seen around the city.
Incumbent Sergei Sobyanin, a Kremlin loyalist, won a convincing re-election, according to a senior election official. Sobyanin, who has been in office since 2010, has overseen several large-scale projects that have transformed Moscow’s skyline during his 13-year tenure as the mayor of Europe’s largest city. In 2013, he faced a tough challenge from anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, but he managed to secure his position. Navalny, who is currently imprisoned, dismissed the recent vote from behind bars.
In the lead-up to the election, Sobyanin faced competition from the grandson of a veteran Communist politician and a relatively unknown candidate from a new party called “New People.” Moscow residents praised Sobyanin for modernizing the city, with a 21-year-old student named Rukhin Aliyev mentioning the recent opening of two metro stations and saying, “Moscow is blossoming in front of our eyes.” Musician Kirill Lobanov also praised Sobyanin, particularly for his handling of the conflict in the past year.
Despite increasing Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow, which have targeted the Kremlin and the city’s financial district, Sobyanin downplayed the threat. In the regions bordering Ukraine, where there have been frequent attacks from Kyiv this summer, voting proceeded with additional security measures in place. However, voting had to be postponed in Shebekino, a district in the Belgorod region that has been affected by shelling, due to a high-alert regime. One of the few competitive races in Russia’s 11 time zones is taking place in Siberia’s remote Khakassia region, where Governor Valentin Konovalov is seeking re-election. Konovalov, who is not supported by the Kremlin, won in 2018 after a wave of protests in the sparsely populated mountainous region. This year, he initially faced a Moscow-backed candidate named Sergei Sokol, who positioned himself as a decorated “hero” for his involvement in Ukraine. However, Sokol withdrew at the last minute, citing health reasons, leaving Konovalov as one of the few regional leaders without Kremlin support who remains in office.
