Russians begin voting in controlled election as war drags on

A three-day vote to fill all 450 seats in the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, began on Friday. This is the first parliamentary election since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Only parties that support President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin's military campaign have been registered to run, while Moscow has also organized voting in occupied Ukrainian territories. With criticism of the war banned and political opposition largely exiled or imprisoned, the election is viewed as a gauge of public sentiment regarding a conflict that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. While the victory of Putin's United Russia party is widely expected, there is public anxiety regarding a potential new military mobilization following the vote, an allegation the Kremlin has denied. Exiled opposition figures, including Yulia Navalnaya, have urged Russians to cast ballots against the ruling party, while other groups, such as the Yabloko party, have called for a boycott of the process.