Russia is now testing a rather new type of election fraud by engaging as voters wrongfully naturalized persons living beyond its borders.
The Kremlin is bracing for parliamentary elections due this fall. Amid sliding popular ratings seen by Vladimir Putin and the pro-presidential United Russia Party, the Kremlin is seeking to secure a controllable majority in parliament that would allow for the so-called transit of power, expected in 2024.
According to the latest polls, only 28% of voters are willing to support the president’s party. However, due to the fact that other parties allowed to partake in the elections are actually Kremlin’s satellite forces, the authorities may refrain from fighting to seal a constitutional mono-majority. The elections are likely to be held over the period of three days, which will allow the party in power to ensure the win through technical means, as well as increase the turnout. At the same time, smaller-scale political parties, created by the Kremlin, will play their part in imitating competition amid the absence of real opposition.
On July 15, European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs approved the report on the strategy of political relations with Russia. It notes that the European Union must not recognize the results of the elections to the State Duma and consider the issue of suspending Russia’s membership in international parliamentary assemblies if opposition candidates are banned from running for parliament.
Despite the fact that the lack of freedom of speech, democratic choice, as well as persecution of opposition forces are the result of President Putin’s policies, Vladimir Dzhabarov, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs, claims that the West “seeks to strike a blow at the legitimacy of the elections.” Such statements could imply that, if the pro-presidential forces fail to gain the required number of votes, the Kremlin may move to declare the vote invalid due to the alleged “external meddling.”
However, such a scenario remains unlikely, since the Kremlin intends to attract more than a million additional votes by having those who have been granted Russian passports in the occupied territories of Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia cast their ballots. The largest number of such votes will come from the territory of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian puppet forces and directly supervised from Moscow.
On July 20, Russia’s Central Election Committee allowed naturalized Russian citizens residing in the said areas to take part in voting. Those living in the occupied territories of Ukraine who hold Russian citizenship will be allowed to vote from home, via a special online platform, as well as at polling stations, where access to the internet will also be ensured. In fact, all conditions have been created for doctoring election results, since people will be voting under military and police pressure, while election data will be transmitted through unprotected communication channels, which will allow for potential manipulation.
Such plans of the Kremlin deliver a blow at international law as Moscow intends to involve in the internal political process the territories of a foreign state (Ukraine), where Russia is directly engaged in the ongoing hostilities. Thus, Moscow sends a signal of recognizing the occupied territories of Ukraine as own political space on par with any Russian region.
Given the opaque process of issuing Russian passports to eastern Ukraine’s residents, Kyiv has been systemically protesting such a policy of de facto coercion of Ukrainians in the occupied areas to obtaining Russian citizenship. Against this background, local “administrations” have been forcibly confiscating Ukrainian passports among the local population. The Kremlin expects this process to be completed as early as 2025.
United Russia’s electoral lists include figures employed as puppet leaders in the territories temporarily beyond Ukraine government’s control, including the ex-head of “government” of the self-styled “Donetsk People’s Republic,” Alexander Borodai. He is running for the State Duma as part of the United Russia Party in Rostov region, which borders the Ukrainian Donbas.
