Russians began voting on Friday in parliamentary elections, the first since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The vote is carefully engineered by the Kremlin to project popular support for the war now in its fifth year. Since 2021, the political system has shed its last vestiges of tolerance for dissent. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country, including most vocal opposition leaders and activists. Almost all antigovernment media outlets have been forced to shut down or operate from abroad.

Despite the repression, the vote remains critical for those in power. Ilya Grashchenkov, a political analyst in Moscow, said stage-managed elections provide the Kremlin with its "sole source of legitimacy." The government can hold up results as proof it is delivering for the Russian people. President Vladimir V. Putin has repeatedly pointed out that Russia continues to hold elections despite the war, contrasting this with Ukraine's postponement under martial law.

The election is orchestrated through an elaborate system managed by the Kremlin. Unwanted candidates are filtered out early, such as the liberal Yabloko party, which called for an immediate cease-fire and was barred after galvanizing pro-peace sentiment. The central government sets targets for the final composition of the Duma, handing goals down to regional authorities. Governors and their political advisers then apply pressure to get public sector workers to vote in support of the government. Local companies and businesses that back the government also push workers to cast ballots.