Kremlin’s United Russia party set to maintain a tight grip on the Duma alongside a handful of Putin-aligned groups
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenAgence France-PressePublished: 1:45pm, 18 Sep 2026Polling stations opened Friday in Russia’s Far East, kicking off a three-day election that President Vladimir Putin’s party is all but guaranteed to win in the fifth year of war with Ukraine.
It will be Russia’s first parliamentary election since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022. The conflict has since killed hundreds of thousands.
Only parties that support Putin and the Kremlin’s dragging military campaign have been registered to run. Moscow has also organised voting in occupied Ukraine.
