DOMINANT ANGLE
Lisbon retains the accusation of hostility that the Russian embassy addresses to the Portuguese authorities, limiting the voting of its nationals to a single office, before following the election that gives United Russia the winner and the attack of Ukrainian drones on Moscow.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
United Russia credited with 57.54% of the vote according to the initial official results from the Central Electoral Commission, out of 111 million voters called to the polls over three days.
- 02
The Russian embassy in Lisbon limited voting for Russians in Portugal to a single polling station, citing a reduction in personnel due to an allegedly "hostile" attitude from the Portuguese authorities.
- 03
Over 1,000 Ukrainian drones launched overnight on Sunday, including 450 targeting Moscow according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, and 1,100 claimed shot down by the Russian Defense Ministry nationwide.
ANALYSIS
Lisbon, Monday, September 21, 2026. Russian residents registered in Portugal, forced to vote at the sole location of their embassy and nowhere else: this detail, reported by Observador at dawn, anchors the Portuguese reading of the Russian legislative election in Lisbon. The Russian embassy announced on Wednesday that Russian citizens established in Portugal would not be able to vote "on the move" and would be confined to a single office, open from 8am to 8pm in Lisbon. The diplomatic mission attributes this restriction to the reduction of its personnel, a consequence, according to it, of a "hostile attitude" from the Portuguese authorities — an accusation that the Portuguese press relays without further comment.
The rest of the coverage, a replay of international dispatches by Sapo and Jornal Económico, follows the thread of the election itself: Rússia Unida, the Kremlin's party, claims 57.54% of the votes according to the first official results from the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), out of 111 million voters called to the polls over three days. The Russian Communist Party follows with 13.67%, ahead of the LDPR (9.27%), Novye Lyudi (7.96%), and Rússia Justa (5.16%) — whose leader Dmitri Medvedev asserts that "the country's citizens keep their trust in the main political force". Yabloko, the only registered pacifist party, was excluded from the lists by the Russian Supreme Court; the opposition in exile denounces the mandatory electronic vote, which it describes as an "instrument of fraud". The CEC reported a "very powerful cyberattack" on Saturday that targeted the electronic voting system all day.
The last day of the election coincided with what the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, described as the "largest attack" ever suffered by the capital: over 1,000 Ukrainian drones launched at night, 450 shot down approaching Moscow, a refinery hit, two deaths recorded. The Russian Ministry of Defense claims 1,100 drones intercepted across the country. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov assures that Russia's diplomatic course will not change after this first legislative election since the invasion of Ukraine.
SOURCES (3)
- ObservadorMEDIUM
- SAPO NotíciasMEDIUM
- Jornal EconómicoMEDIUM
