Russia Holds Parliamentary Elections in Occupied Ukrainian Territories Amid Coercion and International Condemnation

Russia held State Duma elections from Friday through Sunday that for the first time extended balloting to the annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and Crimea, with early voting in occupied territory underway since late August 123. Russian authorities said the four "new regions" hold over 3.5 million registered voters, and President Putin said in a Wednesday speech that residents there would vote for the Duma "for the first time since their reunification with Russia" 12. Donbas SOS coordinator Violeta Artemchuk said election commission members went house to house escorted by Russian troops, and that residents refusing to vote risked loss of pensions or humanitarian assistance 124. Kyiv called the vote illegal and urged non-recognition, a coalition of nine Ukrainian human rights groups urged residents to stay away from polls, and the European Commission said the EU "will never recognize" the results 13. Russia's Central Election Commission reported drone strikes disrupted polling stations in Krasnodar and cut power to 14 stations in occupied Luhansk, and said a commission member was killed earlier in the week in a drone attack in occupied Zaporizhzhia 5.