Three-day State Duma elections have begun in Russia, including in the occupied territories of Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry calls them a farce

In Russia, three days of voting officially began on September 18 for the State Duma elections, which will also be held in the occupied territories. These are the first parliamentary elections in the Russian Federation since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

This is what the Russian media is writing about.

Polling stations in Kamchatka and Chukotka were the first to open. Voting began early in some Russian regions bordering Ukraine.

According to the election results, 450 State Duma deputies are to be elected: 225 in single-member districts, another 225 from party lists. 10 parties participate in the federal list:

• United Russia (pro-government party led by Dmitry Medvedev);
• CPRF (Communist Party of the Russian Federation);
• LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia);
• "New People";
• "A Just Russia — For the Truth";
• "Russian Party of Pensioners for Social Justice";
• "Communists of Russia";
• "Family";
• Russian environmental party "Greens";
• "Direct Democracy Party."

The only party that opposed Russiaʼs war in Ukraine — Yabluko — was removed from the elections in August.

Independent Russian media outlets report numerous violations: in Bashkortostan, attempts were made to replace independent observers with fake ones; in Ufa, a Communist Party candidate and an observer were kicked out of a polling station, saying they were not voting there.

In Chuvashia, Communist Party observers were offered money not to come to the elections, and in the closed city of Sibirskoye in Altai, observers were not allowed into the polling station at all.

Queues of state employees at polling stations were also recorded in several regions — in the Irkutsk region Krasnoyarsk Krai and Bashkortostan.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called the elections in the Russian Federation and voting in the occupied territories a farce, "which has nothing to do with democratic elections and does not create any legal grounds for extending Russiaʼs jurisdiction to any part of the territory of Ukraine".

"Ukraine does not recognize either the holding of these illegal "elections" or their null and void results. We call on foreign states, international organizations, and other subjects of international law to also not recognize these actions of Russia and not consider them as a manifestation of the legitimate political will of the people in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine," the department added.

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