Link: https://www.rfi.fr/en/international/20260918-russians-vote-for-new-parliament-after-campaign-marked-by-near-silence

Russia has barely appeared to be in election mode, with minimal coverage on state-controlled television.

The low-key campaign is deliberate, political analysts told RFI.

“The Kremlin has carried out a sort of special operation around this election campaign, instructing the media under its control to drastically reduce their coverage of the elections,” Alexander Morozov, a Russian political scientist and researcher at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre, told RFI.

Candidates themselves are also operating within narrow boundaries.

“They are not allowed to criticise military operations, the conduct of the war or the Kremlin,” said Nikolai Petrov, a political scientist at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre.

“They may only denounce certain failings on the part of the authorities, criticise them for not carrying out Vladimir Putin’s orders quickly enough, or raise local issues.”