Veterans of war in Ukraine flood United Russia primaries to become candidates for Duma

An investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europe has found that 261 Russian veterans of the war in Ukraine have already registered to stand in primaries to run as candidates for the ruling United Russia party ahead of elections to the State Duma in September.

Nationwide, a total of 3,017 candidates registered, meaning that former combatants in Ukraine comprise 9.1% of the pool or 1 in 11 candidates. However, in some remote regions the proportion of veterans standing was much higher, for example in the region of Yakutia in Russia’s Far East, where the two registered candidates are both veterans of the war. 

In the country’s two biggest cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, veterans also comprise a larger proportion of the candidate pool, with 38 of the 189 would-be candidates in Moscow and 17 of the 62 would-be candidates in St. Petersburg having fought in Ukraine.

The latest development is not unprecedented, with the war in Ukraine already being an established springboard into politics for veterans. This trend was observed in September, when many demobilised soldiers stood in local elections with little transparency about the nature of their service. As Novaya Gazeta Europe reported at the time, some prospective candidates were linked to military battalions believed to have committed war crimes against Ukrainian civilians. 

Registration for the primaries for United Russia began on 11 March and will remain open until 30 April, with the official list of candidates expected to be confirmed at the United Russia party conference in June. 

The State Duma elections, which are due to take place in September, will not only be the first held since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, but will also include 11 new constituencies in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine that the Kremlin claims voted to join the Russian Federation in 2022. 

United Russia currently holds 314 of the 450 seats in the legislature, and political forecasters are confident that the party will retain its majority, with only a couple of other Kremlin-sanctioned parties predicted to pick up more than 5% of votes.