Kremlin Mulls Making Zhirinovsky’s LDPR the ‘Russian Party’ for 2026 Duma Elections because of Role of Veterans Returning from Ukraine War, ‘Vyorstka’ Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 5 – In many earlier elections, the Kremlin has selected one party to attract Russian nationalists lest they fuse with the KPRF. For the 2026 Duma vote, Vyorstka reports, the Presidential Administration is considering having the late Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s LDPR play that role, one especially important because of the role of veterans returning from Ukraine.

            The independent news portal reaches this conclusion after having spoken with several members of the Presidential Administration and leaders of the LDPR and points out that LDPR leaders already have what amounts to a non-aggression pact with the Russian Community organization (verstka.media/kak-iz-ldpr-snova-pytayutsya-sdelat-russkuyu-partiyu).

            While such Russian nationalist parties have not attracted large numbers of voters in the past and while polls suggest that the LDPR would not this time around even by making Russian nationalism its focus, the role of returning veterans is such that the Kremlin wants to make sure that the most passionate of these have a political place to go.

            Indeed, “the veterans issue” may be the most important reason that the Kremlin is plunking for the LDPR as its “Russian nationalist” opposition party, an indication of just how seriously some in the Presidential Administration are taking the political implications of the massive return of veterans from Ukraine once the war there winds down.

            In addition, the LDPR with Kremlin support is seeking to reach out not only to Russian nationalists and veterans but also to regionalist groups with its slogan “Russia is more than Moscow,” an indication that some in the party and the Kremlin believe that regionalist feelings are growing in importance and need to find a home the Kremlin can control.

            Discussions about such roles for the LDPR are only beginning, sources in the Presidential Administration speaking anonymously say, especially because the LDPR leadership lacks the kind of charisma that Zhirinovsky had. And it is quite possible, they suggest, that the Kremlin will decide to try to rope in nationalists, regionalists and veterans by some other means.

            But the very fact that some in the PA are talking about these issues suggests that they are very much more on the minds of people in the Kremlin than in those of the Russian opposition and both Moscow and Western commentaries about the political situation in Putin’s Russia as it enters another electoral cycle.