Why Russia Holds Elections

“Russians began voting on Friday in the first parliamentary elections since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an exercise carefully engineered by the Kremlin to project popular support for continuing a war now in its fifth year,” the New York Times reports.

“Since 2021, when the previous State Duma election was held, the country has changed significantly. The political system has shed its last vestiges of tolerance for dissent. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the country, including most of its vocal opposition leaders and activists. Almost all antigovernment media outlets have been forced to shut down or operate from abroad.”