Putin’s party set to hold power as Russia vote hit by drones and cyberattacks

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party was heading towards a large majority in Russia’s parliamentary elections after a three-day vote overshadowed by Ukrainian drone attacks, cyberattacks on election infrastructure and renewed tensions over the war in Ukraine.

The elections, held from September 18 to 20, were the first parliamentary vote since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. All 450 seats in the lower-house State Duma were contested

With more than 71 per cent of ballots counted, United Russia had secured 57.5 per cent of the vote, according to Russian news agencies. The Communist Party was in second place with about 14 per cent, while the nationalist LDPR had 8.7 per cent.

Based on the early results and projections reported by state agency TASS, United Russia was on course to retain a two-thirds majority in the 450-seat Duma, giving it enough seats to amend the Russian constitution. Final official results and turnout figures were expected later Monday.

The vote took place under a highly restricted political environment. Russia’s Supreme Court removed the liberal Yabloko party’s federal list from the ballot weeks before the election. The party had called for an end to the war, although some of its candidates remained in individual constituencies. Other prominent anti-war figures have been imprisoned or forced into exile.

Putin had urged Russians to participate, presenting the election as an expression of national unity and support for Russian troops. His political opponents, however, described the vote as lacking meaningful competition.

The election’s final day was dramatically disrupted by a major Ukrainian drone assault on Moscow and surrounding areas.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said about 1,600 drones were involved in the attack, including around 450 directed towards the capital. Russian officials reported deaths, damage to residential buildings and a fire at an oil refinery. A drone strike on a 21-storey residential building also prompted the evacuation of about 400 people, according to regional authorities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the strikes, while Moscow accused Kyiv of attempting to disrupt the election. Russia’s Defence Ministry said it would intensify strikes against targets in Kyiv in response.

The election was also hit by a wave of cyberattacks.

Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia’s Central Election Commission, said more than 1,000 waves of distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks had targeted infrastructure connected to the electoral process. She said the attacks appeared to have been conducted by highly coordinated groups using artificial intelligence tools, but did not identify those responsible.

Russian officials also reported attempts to disrupt communications in the country’s Far East, raising concerns about interference with voting operations.

Despite the attacks, Russian authorities said the election process largely continued. The results are now expected to provide the Kremlin with a parliamentary landscape dominated by United Russia and parties broadly aligned with Moscow’s policies, while the war continues to shape Russia’s political and security environment.