Kremlin scales back plans to bring 100 war veterans into the next State Duma Probably the most important decision the Kremlin may take during the upcoming campaign is to abandon the idea of massively promoting war veterans to the State Duma. At the same time, the State Duma is...

Why Is Kremlin Backing Away from War Veterans?

Moscow no longer expects “at least 100” veterans of the war in Ukraine to enter the next State Duma in 2026: loyalty and political controllability now outweigh battlefield credentials.

Read the article: www.russian-election-monitor.org/kremlin-scal...

Vertical predation: Political economy dimension of municipal reform in Russia Russia’s municipal reform is more than an administrative shift — it reflects a broader restructuring of governance. The reform fits into a wider trend of economic “optimization” and goes hand in hand ...

Vertical Predation: Russia’s Municipal Reform

Russia’s reform goes beyond administration: it restructures governance to serve elites. From waste to healthcare, it drives monopolisation and responsibility-shifting.

Vitaly Bovar explains how protests reflect broader transformation: shorturl.at/qNLPb

"Cheaters always leave traces" Ahead of the September 2026 State Duma elections, an electoral expert explains how the Kremlin manages the vote and what role war veterans may play in the new parliament.

📢 "Cheaters always leave traces" — Roman Udot on the State Duma elections.

How will the Kremlin act? Will it promote military figures? Is voting still worth it?

Expert Roman Udot (ex-Golos) answers in an interview for Semnasem.org.

Summary in ENG:
www.russian-election-monitor.org/cheaters-alw...

💥Russian interference in Hungary’s election campaign and the Kremlin’s open support for Viktor Orbán are now a key issue.

No wonder this guy and his Matryoshka creation were very popular at today’s opposition march in Budapest

Report: Pressure on journalists and media in 2025 In 2025, independent Russian media came under unprecedented pressure. REM summarizes the key findings from the Mass Media Defence Centre’s annual report on freedom of speech.

📰 Media Repression Deepens in Russia in 2025

A new report by the MMDC documents rising pressure on journalists: more criminal cases, harsher laws, wider “foreign agent” lists, and new bans affecting audiences.

REM publishes an abridged ENG version:
www.russian-election-monitor.org/report-press...

In Memoriam: Alexei Navalny (1976 - 2024) Reflecting on Alexei Navalny's political journey, this text recognizes his substantial impact on Russian elections - for both the past and probably the future. Navalny played a crucial part in enlight...

2 YEARS SINCE THE MURDER OF ALEXEY NAVALNY

❓ How #Navalny became a politician?
❓ Why Smart Voting worked?
❓ What is Navalny's electoral testament?

📢 REM summarizes Navalny's political journey and recognizes his substantial impact on Russian elections: russian-election-monitor.org/in-memoriam-...

Putin’s Party to Institutionalize Fake Election Observation Ahead of 2026 Duma ”Elections” - European Platform for Democratic Elections In January 2026, the United Russia party announced plans to establish a party-controlled “network of professional international observers,” dismissing

Putin’s Party to Institutionalize Fake Election Observation Ahead of Russia's 2026 Duma ”Elections”.

epde.org?news=putins-...

“Why is Russia’s PACE Platform, which is supposed to represent the Russia of the future, populated by its past?” On 29 January, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe held its first meeting involving the Platform for Dialogue between the PACE and Russian Democratic Forces in Exile. In this article, ...

Why Does Russia’s “Future” Platform Look Like Its Past?

#PACE launched a dialogue platform with RU democratic exiles to give anti-war Russians a voice in Europe.

It drew criticism and deepened opposition rifts.

REM reviews the concerns and lineup:
www.russian-election-monitor.org/why-is-russi...

The opposition’s anti-corruption efforts: Where do we go from here? Anti-corruption investigations once mobilized protests and reshaped opposition politics in Russia. Today, they seem to land in a political void. Can investigative activism still matter under condition...

⚖️ When Anti-Corruption Aids the War Machine

Political scientist Ilya Matveev asks: could anti-corruption investigations — once key to Navalny’s movement — end up making Russia’s war system more efficient?

Is corruption the “lesser evil”?
Read: russian-election-monitor.org/the-oppositi...

Electoral expert on preparations for Russia’s 2026 State Duma elections Despite the apparent stagnation of Russia’s political landscape, elections are still held and retain some elements of competition. The 2026 State Duma campaign has begun, marked by pressure on Yabloko...

🗳️ Russia gears up for the 2026 State Duma elections

Key trends: ❌ Repressions against opposition 💻 Uncontrolled e-voting 🎖️ Promotion of "SVO veterans"

Expert Stanislav Andreychuk explains to @sotavision.bsky.social why elections still matter

Summary: russian-election-monitor.org/electoral-ex...

No time for heroes? Russian propaganda portrays returning fighters from Ukraine as a new elite. In reality, the system places war veterans in showy but powerless roles — ensuring they remain politically harmless.

No Time for “Heroes”?

Kremlin propaganda claims war veterans are becoming a new elite. In reality, only the most obedient are elevated, while genuinely popular commanders are sidelined — the Kremlin fears their potential influence.

EN: www.russian-election-monitor.org/no-time-for-...

Election update XIV REM summarizes the outcomes of September elections and examines how opposition is seeking to consolidate its efforts ahead of 2026 State Duma vote. More in REM electoral digest for September–October 2...

Russia enters campaign mode for 2026 Duma elections

Russia prepares for 2026 State Duma vote. Kremlin tightens control, the systemic opposition analyzes results from 2025 races, and the non-systemic opposition struggles to regroup under repression.

www.russian-election-monitor.org/election-upd...

Operation “Legitimacy”: Inside Russia’s Governor Elections Leaked documents reveal that this year’s governor re-election campaign in Irkutsk relied on systematic violations of electoral rules. The scale of the operation suggests it’s not an isolated case, but...

‼️ Operation “Legitimacy”: How Russia’s gubernatorial elections are engineered

Illegal spending, Moscow spin doctors, fake observers & social media manipulation — all to “re-elect” #Kremlin candidates.

In-depth analysis of Russian regional elections: www.russian-election-monitor.org/operation-le...

Experts: High results at 2025 governor elections attributed to vote rigging Ivan Shukshin’s analysis points to electoral fraud across multiple regions. REM shares the main takeaways.

Fake Tsar, fake boyars, fake elections

Electoral analyst Ivan Shukshin exposes how Russia’s 2025 gubernatorial “results” were drawn, not won.

Spoiler: the math doesn’t lie — but the Kremlin does.

www.russian-election-monitor.org/experts-high...

Russia’s 2025 regional elections show a systemic pattern: voter coercion, manipulated turnout, pressure on monitors, abuse of home voting.
With no independent oversight, the process is designed to secure the desired result, not reflect voters’ will. www.russian-election-monitor.org/statement-on...

Election update XIII On 12–14 September, Russia will hold regional elections. While these events can hardly be described as genuine elections, they remain one of the few available indicators of internal political dynamics...

Russia’s “regional elections” will be held on Sept 12–14.

Not free, not fair — but still a window into Kremlin politics.
Putin’s team fears real competition, rewriting laws & purging candidates.

More from REM’s August update 👇
www.russian-election-monitor.org/election-upd...

#RussianElections

Who is next? Persecution of governors in Russia On 7 July 2025, former Kursk governor Roman Starovoit was found dead in an apparent suicide. During Vladimir Putin’s 25-year rule, 32 Russian governors have faced prosecution. This article explores ho...

Who is next?
Another Russian deputy governor detained today. Since 2000, 32 governors have faced prosecution. Ahead of September’s vote for 21 governors, the hunt for elites loyal and critical to the Kremlin intensifies.
Read full story: www.russian-election-monitor.org/who-is-next-...

Is Siberia Retaining Its Autonomy? Municipal Reform and Unexpected Protests In spring 2025, Vladimir Putin signed a new law on local self-government. The reform unexpectedly triggered backlash from regional leaders, deputies, and citizens — especially in Siberia and the Far E...

Is Siberia retaining autonomy?

Despite repression, regions like #Altai are protesting the #Kremlin’s dismantling of local self-government. Thousands rallied — a rare act of defiance in militarized #Russia.

More on resistance to #MunicipalReform:
🔗 russian-election-monitor.org/is-siberia-r...

Election watchdog ‘Golos’ announced shutdown. Is this the end of independent monitoring? The announcement was made on 8 July, shortly after Golos co-chair Grigory Melkonyants had been sentenced to five years in prison. Following this, Golos shuttered regional offices and suspended all ong...

"We shouldn’t mourn Golos too much," say experts on Russia’s main election watchdog shutdown.

Golos is gone—but independent election monitoring isn’t.
What’s next?

REM investigates:
🔗 russian-election-monitor.org/election-wat...

#FreeMelkonyants

⚡BREAKING: Russia’s GOLOS movement for voters’ rights has ceased to exist after the conviction of its co-chair Grigory Melkonyants.

“Persecution of observers is another step to undermine the country’s constitutional foundations.”

Full statement in Russian: www.golosinfo.org/articles/155396

Election update XII United Russia primaries mark the beginning of a major electoral cycle that will culminate in the 2026 State Duma elections. Read more about this in our digest of the main electoral developments in Apr...

📬 Russian Election Update — June 2025

Golos movement's latest Electoral Bulletin covers key trends:

🗳️ Prep for 2025 regional & 2026 State Duma elections
🏛️ Dismantling of local self-government

Full update (ENG):
www.russian-election-monitor.org/election-upd...

Archive (RUS): www.bulleten.org

Why Russian government is still afraid of elections? Ahead of 2026 parliamentary elections, Russian authorities are redrawing constituency boundaries. It seems that after 25 years of undermining the electoral process, the Kremlin should not be concerned...

❓ Why is the #Kremlin still afraid of #elections?

Ahead of 2026 #Duma vote, Russian authorities redraw district lines to boost rural pro-gov’t vote. After decades of control, why the fear?

An original Semnasem.org longread (Rus) via REM (in Eng):
🔗 www.russian-election-monitor.org/why-russian-...

❗️The Kremlin won't kill off local self-gov directly — it’ll use governors.

Political analyst Andrey Pertsev says reform will spare key regions (like Tatarstan), but be forced through elsewhere despite protests. Putin’s new law paves the way.

📎 Read more at REM website: shorturl.at/vZ4tE

🚨 Grigory Melkonyants has been sentenced to
5⃣ years in prison!

🗣️ "Don't worry, I'm not discouraged. You all stay strong too!" - Melkonyants says in his farewell in the courtroom.

‼️ Golos movement published Grigory Melkonyants' last plea: golosinfo.org/en/articles/...

The verdict in the case of Melkonyants will be announced on May 14, 2025.

⚡️ Golos co-chair Grigory Melkonyants was asked for 6 years in prison on charges of organizing the activities of an undesirable organization.

Closing arguments are underway at the court in Moscow. Melkonyants will also deliver his final statement.

zona.media/online/2025/...

A great friendship? Russian propaganda and the German elections Russian “soft power” is a hot topic in both Russian and foreign media. How effective actually is it? What are the Kremlin’s fake publications up to in Germany? Historian Ewgeniy Kasakow, author of the...

Kremlin-backed propaganda is weaponizing AI, fake news, and deepfakes to target Germany’s elections, aiming at:

✅ Boost far-right parties (AfD/BSW)
❌ Discredit centrist leaders (SPD/Greens/CDU)
🌐 Undermine support for Ukraine & EU unity

In-depth analysis by Ewgeniy Kasakow: shorturl.at/DIXdg

Georgy Filimonov: Authoritarian experiment in Vologda The governor of Vologda Region has become infamous for his controversial and ideologically driven approach to governance. A total ban on abortion, a dry law and the erection of a monument to Stalin ar...

Ivan the Terrible → Stalin → Filimonov: Russia’s authoritarian experiment in Vologda.

In this analysis of Vologda region Governor Georgy Filimonov’s political profile, REM aims to examine the trends shaping the Kremlin's current regional policies.

www.russian-election-monitor.org/georgy-filim...

Repression in numbers: Three years of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine In February 2025, human rights organization OVD-Info published a report documenting key trends in political repression against anti-war activism in Russia. The report sheds light on statistics of crim...

🔴 Repression in Russia: Three Years of Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine

REM publishes an abridged version of the report by OVD-info documenting key trends in political repression, both criminal and administrative, against anti-war activism in Russia.

📎 Full text: shorturl.at/F2SHU

🚨 Russia's 2026 Duma Elections: Manipulation Already in Full Swing 🚨

The latest Russian Election Monitor update exposes how the #Kremlin is reshaping the electoral system to tighten its grip on power, while Duma elections are still 18 months away.

www.russian-election-monitor.org/election-upd...