Russians vote as Ukraine war drags on for fifth year

Russians began voting Friday in a tightly controlled three-day election that is set to tighten President Vladimir Putin's 26-year grip on power, in the country's fifth year of war with Ukraine.

It is Russia's first parliamentary election since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022, setting off a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands.

Only parties that support Putin and the Kremlin's military campaign have been registered to run. Moscow has also organised voting in occupied Ukraine.

The European Union slammed the elections, saying "repression" had been used to eradicate opponents, while a Council of Europe body denounced the vote as "fake".

While few Russians doubt Putin's United Russia party will cruise to victory again, the vote offers a gauge of public support for the war.

Voting for all 450 seats in the Duma, Russia's lower house, runs until 1800 GMT on Sunday.

Putin has ruled Russia since 1999 and his party has dominated politics since the early 2000s.

Moscow has banned criticism of the Ukraine campaign, and elections under Putin rarely produce surprises.

Putin had called on Russians to vote to show they back Moscow's troops and to deliver an "answer to those who want to weaken Russia".

The Kremlin published footage of the 73-year-old president voting online -- rare footage of the longtime leader using technology.

On Moscow's streets, several voters told AFP they wanted the war in Ukraine to end -- but on Russia's terms, backing Putin's goals.

Fully for the special military operation 

Rail worker Sergei Korenets, 41, said he will back United Russia, voting for "stability" -- echoing Putin's main slogan.

Asked whether four-and-a-half years of war amounts to "stability", Korenets said: "Of course, I want all this (the war) to end as quickly as possible."

But he did not want change at home, he said, as "I am satisfied from the point of view of my financial situation".

Despite sweeping Western sanctions, Russia's economy has not collapsed and life in the capital remains relatively normal even as Moscow bombards Ukrainian cities daily.

United Russia faces only parties that broadly back Putin's policies and the war: the Communist Party, the nationalist LDPR, A Just Russia and New People.

Yabloko, which called for an end to the fighting, was barred from running shortly before the vote. One of its main figures, Lev Shlosberg, was imprisoned for criticising the war.

Russia has since 2022 introduced Soviet-style censorship and jailed war critics.

"I am fully for the special military operation," 55-year-old Lyubov told AFP in Moscow, using the Kremlin's term for its offensive.

"NATO cannot be at our borders," she added, repeating one of Putin's arguments for launching the war.

But she criticised some social policies, still upset by Putin raising the pension age several years back, saying she wanted a "return to the Soviet economic system."

Older voters are among Putin's strongest supporters, though many complain about living standards.

Mobilisation fears  

Some fear the post-election period in Russia will bring a new military mobilisation, similar to the 2022 call-up of 300,000 reservists. The deeply unpopular move triggered a mass exodus of draft-age men.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused the Kremlin of planning a fresh mobilisation drive, an allegation Putin has denied.

Ukrainian strikes have caused increased disruption this year, hitting as far as Siberia and the Urals.

Putin's political opponents have mostly been driven into exile and his main opponent Alexei Navalny died in an Arctic prison in 2024.

Russia's exiled opposition has urged anti-Kremlin Russians not to boycott the elections but instead vote "against Putin's party".

Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya called on anti-war Russians to cast their ballots at noon on Sunday.

Yabloko disagrees, arguing that it was better not to vote.

"You are suggesting that we once again go, like sheep, dancing to their tune, and vote for those who have caused the deaths of people in Russia and Ukraine?" party chairman Nikolay Rybakov said this week.

But one Moscow voter, Yekaterina, who has lived her whole life under Putin's rule, saw no reason for political change and was undeterred by the war.

"I still trust my president," the 26-year-old told AFP.