Russians begin voting in controlled election as war drags on

Polling stations opened early 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.

While few in Russia doubt Putin's United Russia party will sail to victory again, the vote is an opportunity for the Kremlin to gauge public support for the Ukraine war, the effects of which have hit home more than ever this year.

In a grim reminder of the fighting, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Friday that Russia destroyed dozens of Ukrainian drones bound for the capital overnight.

"More than 350 UAVs flew towards the Moscow region between 8:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) on 17 September and 7:00 a.m. on 18 September," he said on Telegram, adding that most were destroyed at an outer defensive perimeter and some 64 were shot down as they were approaching the sprawling city.

The vote to renew the 450 seats in the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, will run until 1800 GMT on Sunday.

Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and Chukotka -- on the Pacific -- are the first of Russia's 11 time zones to begin voting.

Putin has ruled Russia since New Year's Eve 1999 and his United Russia party has dominated Russian politics since the early 2000s.

Moscow has banned criticism of its Ukraine campaign, and the Russian elections, tightly controlled by the Kremlin, are bringing few surprises.

AFP