Hello and welcome to Vlast! This time, we look at the cohort of Ukraine war veterans just elected to Russia’s parliament.
We also examine why the Kremlin has decided to seize assets from “loyal” international businesses, and the Finance Ministry’s early victory in a battle over budget spending.
⏳ This newsletter contains 2,179 words and will take approximately 11 minutes to read. It was translated and edited by Howard Amos.
Bringing Ukraine war veterans into the heart of government
The election of dozens of Ukraine war veterans to Russia’s parliament was the most striking outcome of the weekend’s State Duma vote. In the past, the Kremlin has sought to get well-known athletes and celebrities into parliament; now, in keeping with the times, it has recruited military personnel. Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) said Friday that 46 “participants and veterans” of the war had been elected. But a count by Vlast suggested that up to 100 of the new deputies had been involved in Russia’s war effort in some way (from drone purchases to brief stints of military service). If they were to vote together, veterans would be the second-largest faction in parliament after the ruling United Russia party.
The push to fill the ranks of Russia’s parliamentarians with war veterans is closely associated with President Vladimir Putin. Indeed, Putin has called these men (they are overwhelmingly men) “our replacement,” the “true elite,” and the “heirs of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War.” Earlier this year, he pledged his personal support, as well as the Kremlin’s administrative resources, to veterans running for the State Duma.
How were they elected? These war veterans—who have little in the way of political networks or public profiles—were catapulted to power in an election that not only saw massive vote rigging (even by modern Russian standards), but which had, at the last minute, been cast by Putin as a “referendum” on the fighting in Ukraine. In a special address two days before the vote, Putin told Russians that “your choice and determination will show once again that millions of people are backing our fighters.”