Russians began voting today in the country’s first parliamentary elections since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But as my colleague Ivan Nechepurenko walked through Moscow in recent weeks, he was struck by the utter lack of campaigning. It was yet another sign, Ivan said, that the elections were by no means free or fair. In his latest article, he explains how the Kremlin gets the vote it wants.

Even by Russian standards, this weekend’s vote is shaping up to be unsurprising. The only antiwar party, Yabloko, was barred from the ballot. And hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country, including most of Russia’s vocal opposition leaders and activists. You may be asking, what’s the point? Why would an autocrat even bother to hold an election? Analysts say it’s largely because Vladimir Putin can use the results as a source of legitimacy for himself and his policies. That has many Russians worried about what might come next. Rumors of a military mobilization have filled online information spaces and are discussed in cafes, on trains and in smoking areas near offices.

Related: Classified U.S. intelligence assessments determined that the Kremlin is, once again, seeking to undermine confidence in the upcoming U.S. elections.