EXPLAINER | How Putin may leverage Russian ruling party’s election win

The pro-Putin ruling United Russia party retained its decisive majority in the national parliament, near-complete election results showed on Monday, in a tightly controlled political system that excluded most candidates who oppose Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Here are some of the reasons why the vote may be useful to President Vladimir Putin:

As president or prime minister for more than a quarter of a century, Putin’s grip on Russia has never been tighter. But the war has lasted much longer than many Russians expected and fallout from the conflict is now being felt much more sharply on the home front.

Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia itself have escalated, and Moscow was targeted on Sunday in the biggest attack of the war so far. While civilian casualties are far lower than in Ukraine, they have sharply increased this year. Strikes on oil refineries have caused fuel shortages, while businesses are grappling with drone attacks on their warehouses and polls suggest some Russians are increasingly anxious.

Having framed the election as a test of support for the war, Putin is likely to point to the results to say that most people back his decision to fight on until key war aims are met.

Putin has said that those who fought in Ukraine are “warriors”, part of a new “elite” he has promised will have prestigious careers. With many of the 200 or so veterans who stood from a range of parties on track to enter parliament, Putin is expected to point to their success as an example of how Moscow looks after those who risked their lives for the motherland, and of how service on the battlefield can lead to a high-profile political career. It could also encourage more people to sign up to fight in Ukraine.

Putin has repeatedly suggested that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is illegitimate, pointing to the fact that his five-year term ran out in May 2024 and that Zelensky has not held a new election since. Martial law, introduced in Ukraine in 2022, bans any wartime election and the constitution says the president serves until a newly elected one takes office.

But Putin — who has faced criticism from Western politicians about Russia’s own political system — may use the vote to say that Russia — unlike Ukraine — has stuck to its electoral timetable regardless of the war and has given people a chance to vote.

Putin has been keen to show Russians that despite the conflict and everything associated with it they can largely carry on life as before. Increasingly deep and destructive Ukrainian drone strikes have made that harder to achieve in this fifth year of the war.