Putin Casts Parliamentary Election as a Test of Support for the War
In a televised address, the Russian president framed the three-day parliamentary vote as a demonstration of national resolve, as polls suggest growing anxiety over the war's costs.
President Vladimir Putin has cast participation in Russia's forthcoming parliamentary election as a measure of support for his war in Ukraine, urging citizens to vote as the country prepares for its first legislative poll since the full-scale invasion of February 2022.
The three-day election, beginning on Friday, will choose the composition of the 450-seat State Duma, the lower house of parliament, which has reliably approved the Kremlin's initiatives. The vote comes as opinion polls indicate that some Russians have grown more anxious about how the war affects them, with the economy under strain, and after most anti-war candidates were excluded from the ballot. The political system is tightly controlled, and the ruling United Russia party, backed by Putin, is widely expected to retain its dominance.
In a televised address to the nation, Putin referred to the war in Ukraine and to the Russian-controlled parts of Ukrainian territory, saying that casting a vote would help secure Russia's victory and demonstrate national resolve in the face of external pressure. Your choice and your will, he said, will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our soldiers, that we are a united people bound together by shared values, historical memory and love for our homeland, and that no one will succeed in dividing or intimidating us, or in undermining our statehood and our socio-political system.
The vote, he said, would serve as a collective response to those seeking to weaken Russia, hinder its development, and deprive it of its sovereignty and right to determine its own future.