How Russia's most consequential election in years handed Putin even more power

Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won a record supermajority in the Duma, authorities announced on Monday after a tightly controlled three-day election without parties critical of the Kremlin or the war in Ukraine.

Electoral chief Ella Pamfilova said preliminary results showed United Russia — which has dominated Russian politics for 25 years — won 355 of the Duma's 450 seats.

The result handed Putin's party an increased supermajority and beat its previous record of 343 seats — giving it a free hand for constitutional changes.

The Kremlin said the first parliamentary election since Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in 2022 showed Russians were united around Putin, who has been in power since New Year's Eve 1999.

The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions in Ukraine and hit ordinary lives in Russia more than ever this year.

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Russia has banned criticism of its military campaign and Yabloko, the only party that called for an end to the war, was barred from running for the federal parliament. It was, however, approved in some regions for local voting.

"These indicators, of course, point to the highest level of consolidation within Russian society around the head of state," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a briefing with journalists.

Putin had encouraged Russians to vote in support of troops in Ukraine and Moscow also organised voting in occupied Ukraine.

Pamfilova said turnout was over 59 per cent, thanking Russians for voting despite what she called "psychological pressure on Russia".

Russia's campaign in Ukraine broke its ties with the West. Ukraine hit Moscow with its biggest drone attack of the war on Sunday , the last day of voting, killing two people and setting an oil refinery ablaze.

"Despite the extreme situation, we were successful in ensuring the maximum security of these elections," Pamfilova told a Moscow press conference.

Forty-nine veterans who fought for Moscow in Ukraine are expected to enter parliament to represent United Russia, the party told Russian state media.

The Kremlin has sought to promote soldiers who fought in Ukraine into positions of authority when they return, with Moscow glorifying its troops.