DOMINANT ANGLE
London denounces a locked-in vote, where the drone attack on Moscow counts for less than the total absence of real opposition on the ballots.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
United Russia claims 57.5% of the vote according to the first results published Monday, versus around 14% for the Communist Party (The Independent, Daily Mail).
- 02
The Russian Ministry of Defense says it has shot down 1,110 Ukrainian drones across the territory, including 450 targeting Moscow according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin (BBC, The Independent).
- 03
Independent European observers were turned away and the real opposition excluded from the vote, The Independent notes.
ANALYSIS
London, 21 September 2026. For the British press, Sunday's shock is not only military, but also electoral. At the end of a three-day vote for the State Duma, United Russia, the party supporting Vladimir Putin, claims 57.5% of the vote according to the first results published on Monday, far ahead of the Communist Party, credited with around 14%. The Daily Mail does not mince its words: this vote, the first since the start of the war, remains "widely regarded as a 'sham'", a simulation, recalls the tabloid, which notes an official turnout of 56% for an electorate of 111 million registered voters. Vladimir Putin was not on the ballot - he left the presidency of United Russia in 2012 - but his ally Dmitry Medvedev, the current head of the party, has already promised to apply its line to the future Parliament.
The Independent emphasizes the lack of credible opponents: independent European observers were rejected, and the few parties called to sit in the Duma all publicly support the government. The newspaper notes that the Kremlin wanted to present this vote as a test of support for the war, "even as critics say there are few available avenues for genuine dissent".
The vote ended in the chaos of a Ukrainian drone offensive, which Moscow describes as the largest of the war. The Russian Ministry of Defense says it shot down 1,110 devices across the entire territory, including Crimea and the Black Sea; Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin mentions 450 drones targeting the capital alone, a figure he calls "unprecedented". The BBC reports two deaths and six injuries in the Moscow region according to Governor Andrei Vorobyov, a warehouse on fire and a refinery damaged near Moscow; Cheremetievo and Vnukovo airports have suspended part of their traffic. However, the channel specifies that the images circulating on social media have not been independently verified.
In retaliation, the Kremlin promises to "intensify" its strikes on Kyiv. The Independent notes that Russian strikes had already killed four people, including three children, in the Kyiv region on Saturday. For the British press, the coincidence of the two events is of interest mainly for what it reveals about the Russian electoral lock, rather than for an outcome that was never in doubt.
