Russia stages early voting in occupied Ukraine ahead of national election

Mobile polling teams visited homes in rural areas on 14 September, carrying ballot boxes and portable voting booths. Footage showed residents casting their ballots outside their homes, while members of Russia’s Central Electoral Commission oversaw the process alongside Russian servicemen and police officers.

Russia’s parliamentary election is due to take place nationwide from 18 to 20 September. The Kremlin presents the vote as a measure of public opinion on the war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year. Early voting is also under way in several frontline regions, where Russian authorities say the arrangements are needed to comply with martial law imposed by Moscow and to protect voters and election workers.

In Donetsk, election officials travelled between settlements accompanied by police and armed military personnel. The footage does not show how many people had voted or provide any figures for turnout at the time it was filmed.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has warned residents in occupied areas not to take part, saying that organising or promoting the elections could be a criminal offence under Ukrainian law, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Yet the question remains: what choice do people have when armed soldiers are at their door?

Kyiv and Western governments consider elections held in occupied Ukrainian territory illegal, describing them as a “sham election” intended to legitimise Moscow’s control over the regions.