Paul Goble
Staunton, Mar. 30 – More than half of the candidates in some oblasts, krays, and republics in United Russia primaries to select candidates for the race for Duma seats s are veterans of Putin’s war in Ukraine, although overall, they form less than nine percent of the total.
The largest number of veteran candidates in these primary candidates come from Moscow city (38 out of 1898), Moscow region (21 of 322) and St. Petersburg (17 of 62); but higher percentages are where the number of candidates is smaller (novayagazeta.eu/articles/2026/03/30/kazhdyi-11-i-kandidat-na-praimeriz-edinoi-rossii-uchastvoval-v-rossiiskom-vtorzhenii-v-ukrainu-podschitala-novaia-evropa-news).
In Sakha, for example, both of the two candidates competing in the primary are veterans of the war in Ukraine; and in Chelyabinsk oblast, five out of nine served in the Russian invasion force in Ukraine. What send the overall number are candidate in the occupied territories, the LNR, the DNR, and Zapozhizhya.
Far from all of these veteran-candidates are likely to win. Many may have been listed in order to make it look like the regions involved were following Putin’s repeated injunctions to make the veterans the new ruling class of the Russian Federation, and they will lose to incumbents or those with more backing from local party elders.
Nonetheless, these figures do suggest that the veterans are going to form a significant share of the new Duma, albeit far less than the 100 deputies that some have talked about.
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