Russia includes annexed Ukrainian regions in Duma vote amid coercion claims

Russia has extended its parliamentary election to the Ukrainian regions it annexed during the war. Kyiv, rights groups and the EU say the vote is illegal, coercive and meant to legitimise occupation.

In Short

• Polling in some occupied territories and border areas started last month
• Authorities claim over 3.5 million voters live across four seized regions
• Kyiv urged foreign governments and organisations not to recognise results

Russia's parliamentary election now includes residents of the Ukrainian regions that Moscow annexed after launching its full-scale invasion more than four-and-a-half years ago, a move that Kyiv has denounced as illegal and rights activists say is being enforced under pressure. The voting for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, began across Russia on Friday and will continue until Sunday, but polling in the annexed territories and some Russian border areas has been underway since the end of last month.

Russian authorities say more than 3.5 million voters live in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia territories, which Moscow often calls the "new regions". Russia annexed the four territories in September 2022 despite not fully controlling them, and the move has not been recognised internationally. At one polling station in the Russian-held part of the Donetsk region, voters were seen putting ballots into a box while an armed Russian soldier stood nearby and watched.

In a speech on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of voting in the regions for the first time since what he called their reunification with Russia. He also noted that Russian soldiers involved in the fighting would vote. Voting is also taking place in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014. Calling for support, Putin said: "Your choice and resolve will once again demonstrate that millions of people stand behind our fighters, that we are a united people, bound by shared values, historical memory, and love for the Motherland and that nobody can divide or intimidate us, undermine our statehood and political system."

Authorities in Kyiv said the voting in the occupied territories was illegal and urged foreign governments and international organisations not to recognise the election. They also warned Ukrainians that taking part in organising the vote could lead to criminal liability. A coalition of nine Ukrainian human rights groups called on residents of the Russian-held territories to stay away from the polls, saying: "We urge residents of the temporarily occupied territories, above all, to protect their lives and health and to look after their own safety. Holding Russian elections in the temporarily occupied territories is an attempt to use the electoral process to legitimize the Russian occupation and the attempted annexation of Ukrainian territories." European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand said the voting in Russian-held regions represented "another blatant violation of international law. The European Union does not, and will never recognize either the holding of these, so-called elections, sham elections, in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or their results."

Violeta Artemchuk, coordinator of the Donbas SOS human rights group and one of the signatories to the statement, said members of local election commissions were going door to door with Russian troops and security agents to force people to vote. She said Moscow-appointed authorities were threatening public sector workers with dismissal if they did not vote and were linking pensions and other social payments to participation. "For instance, if a person with a disability or a pensioner relies on social assistance and does not take part in the voting, they could be added to a list of individuals deemed disloyal to the so-called authorities and subsequently deprived of their benefits or humanitarian assistance," she said.

Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst at the Kyiv-based Penta Center, said "elections held at gunpoint are a farce". He added: "The very fact that voting takes place amid endless shelling and bombing reflects the Kremlin's attitude toward the people and the electoral process in the occupied territories. It's nothing short of a mockery. Any electoral procedures conducted by the Russian occupation authorities have nothing to do with democracy." As Russia holds its first wartime election to the State Duma, the inclusion of the annexed Ukrainian regions has further sharpened international criticism and allegations of coercion on the ground.

With PTI Inputs

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