Russia’s new parliament will include 49 deputies who have taken part in the war against Ukraine, officials have said after a landslide victory by the ruling United Russia party in widely criticised elections.
asserted
officials → include → elections
The pro-Kremlin party won a record 355 seats in the country’s 450-seat Duma lower house of parliament, according to preliminary figures.
uncertain
party → win → figures
The result further consolidates Vladimir Putin’s grip on power and gives United Russia a super-majority bigger than its previous 2016 record of 343 seats.
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result → consolidate → seats
The polls are the first to be held since Putin’s 2022 full-scale invasion.
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polls → hold → invasion
United Russia’s general secretary, Vladimir Yakushev, said 86 veterans from Moscow’s “special military operation” were likely to have been elected.
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veterans → say → operation
“This is quite a substantial contribution,” he said.
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he → say → ?
He later revised the number to 49.
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He → revise → 49
Putin’s press spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the vote showed that Russians supported their longtime leader, who has ruled as prime minister or president since 2000.
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who → say → 2000
“These indicators, of course, point to the highest level of consolidation within Russian society around the head of state,” Peskov said.
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Peskov → point → state
Western governments denounced the polls held in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine as a “sham”.
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governments → denounce → sham
Russia’s supreme court last month banned the only party that opposes the war, Yabloko, from participating, leaving liberal voters with no option to express discontent.
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that → ban → discontent
Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat, called the election “another major setback for Russian democracy”.
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Kallas → call → democracy
“The Kremlin silenced dissent and shut out international election monitors,” Kallas wrote on X, adding: “The veneer of democracy is all that remains.”
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that → silence → democracy
The elections come amid speculation that Putin may announce a large mobilisation campaign this autumn, in an attempt to inject fresh momentum to Russia’s bogged down military campaign.
uncertain
Putin → come → campaign
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has suggested the Kremlin wants to recruit another 300,000 troops.
uncertain
Kremlin → suggest → troops
In recent months, Russia has escalated its bombardment, pummelling Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with jet-powered attack drones.
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Russia → escalate → drones
Ukraine has launched its own deep strikes, hitting Moscow’s oil refinery on Sunday, as part of what Zelenskyy has dubbed “long-range sanctions”.
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Zelenskyy → launch → what
Russia’s has also intensified its campaign to seize a string of cities in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, including Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
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Russia → intensify → Kramatorsk
So far, it has been unable to break through, with Ukrainian commanders reporting their own counteroffensive near the city of Lyman.
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commanders → break → Lyman
Inside Russia, criticism of the conflict is banned.
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criticism → ban → conflict
Anti-war bloggers have been arrested and jailed.
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bloggers → arrest → ?
A local politician, Boris Nadezhdin, who previously tried to stand in presidential elections on a peace ticket, was barred from September’s elections and accused of being a “foreign agent”.
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who → try → elections
The other parties that won seats in this month’s poll all support the “special military operation”.
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that → win → operation
They include the communists, who came second with 40 seats, the ultra-nationalist LDPR party, with 25, and the New People party, with 20.
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who → include → 20
Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, a Putin ally, was re-
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leader → re → ?
Russia’s elections chief, Ella Pamfilova, said United Russia had won a resounding victory with 57.83%, with 95% of ballots counted, up from the 49.8% it won in the last parliamentary election, in 2021.
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it → say → 2021
She praised voters for resisting “psychological pressure”.
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She → praise → pressure
Overnight, Russia carried out what Zelenskyy called a “brutal, targeted attack” on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.
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Zelenskyy → carry → Zaporizhzhia
He said a nine-storey residential building, a university building, a shopping centre, and a boiler house were all damaged, with five people injured.
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people → say → ?
A woman in Kharkiv region was killed in a drone strike.
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woman → kill → strike
Zelenskyy said: “Russia is not scaling back its escalatory actions and is signalling a readiness to expand the war.
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Russia → say → war
All this is happening against the backdrop of global stability already having been shattered by this war.
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this → happen → war
We must continue to pressure the aggressor to bring this war to an end.”
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We → continue → end
The Aporia
