EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas on Monday dismissed Russia's parliamentary elections as a "veneer" of democracy, and said she was proposing sanctions against those who organised them in occupied Ukraine. Five other countries – the UK, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Canada – also condemned Russia's move as a violation of the UN charter.
President Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia won a large majority against token opposition, with no party contesting Moscow's war against Ukraine allowed to run.
"The so-called Duma elections marked another major setback for Russian democracy. Their outcome was never in doubt," Kallas wrote on social media platform X.
"The Kremlin silenced dissent, barred the only registered party that opposed its war in Ukraine, and shut out international election monitors. The veneer of democracy is all that remains in Russia."
Kallas said she had "proposed measures against those facilitating these sham elections in occupied Ukrainian territories".
The EU has already sanctioned some 3,000 officials and entities over the war on Ukraine, including Putin.
Meanwhile, five other countries, the UK, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Canada on Monday also condemned Russia's "sham" parliamentary elections in swathes of occupied Ukraine, branding the move "part of a wider system of occupation".
"Holding Russia's State Duma elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine ... is a gross violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and independence, and the UN Charter," the countries said in a joint statement that cited votes held in occupied Crimea and Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.
The conflict in Ukraine has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions and hit ordinary lives in Russia more than ever this year.
Putin – in power since New Year's Eve 1999 – had encouraged Russians to vote in support of troops in Ukraine.
Supermajority
Earlier on, Russian electoral chief Ella Pamfilova said preliminary results showed United Russia – which has dominated Russian politics for 25 years – won 355 of the Duma's 450 seats.
The result handed Putin's party an increased supermajority and beat its previous record of 343 seats. The supermajority means it can change the constitution, if it needs to.
"These indicators, of course, point to the highest level of consolidation within Russian society around the head of state," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a briefing with journalists.
But Moscow has banned criticism of its military campaign and the only party that called for an end to the war – Yabloko – was barred for running for the federal parliament. It was, however, approved in some regions for local voting.
This occurred in the Novgorod region, in western Russia, where Yabloko entered the regional parliament, thanks to some 12,000 votes – just over six percent of votes in the region – according to the party's social media.
Russia's Communist party came second in the vote, winning 40 seats. The nationalist LDPR party took 25 seats and the New People party won 20.
Pamfilova said turnout was over 59 percent, thanking Russians for voting despite what she called "psychological pressure on Russia."
Russia's elections took place as Kyiv hit Moscow with its biggest drone attack of the war on Sunday, killing two people and setting an oil refinery ablaze.
"Despite the extreme situation, we were successful in ensuring the maximum security of these elections," Pamfilova told a Moscow press conference, thanking security services for ensuring the vote went ahead.
(With newswires)
