A serviceman of Russia's Emergencies Ministry sits under a mural depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin during Russia's parliamentary election at a polling station in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on September 20, 2026, amid the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict. (AFP Photo)
EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas on Sept. 21 dismissed Russia’s parliamentary elections as a “veneer” of democracy and said she was proposing sanctions on those who helped hold them in occupied Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia won a large majority against token opposition, with no party contesting Moscow’s war against Ukraine allowed to run.
“The so-called Duma elections marked another major setback for Russian democracy. Their outcome was never in doubt,” Kallas wrote on X.
“The Kremlin silenced dissent, barred the only registered party that opposed its war in Ukraine, and shut out international election monitors. The veneer of democracy is all that remains in Russia.”
Kallas said she had “proposed measures against those facilitating these sham elections in occupied Ukrainian territories.”
The EU has already sanctioned some 3,000 officials and entities over the war on Ukraine, including Putin.
The election, held to elect members in all seats of the lower house State Duma, is the first since Moscow launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
No party opposed to the war was allowed to run, with Russia’s Supreme Court removing the anti-war Yabloko party off the ballot weeks before the vote.
According to results reported by Russian news agencies after just over 71 percent of ballots were counted, United Russia took 57.5 percent of the vote.
The Communist Party and LDPR nationalists trailed behind on 14 and 8.7 percent respectively.
