Russian State Duma elections began Friday — the first since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — including in occupied areas of Ukraine, where Russia will look to reinforce the illusion of popular support for its full-scale invasion and annexation of eastern Ukraine.OSCE election observers are not invited to monitor the outcome of the elections, a telling signal, critics say, that the Kremlin has no intentions of conducting free and fair elections."Russia’s refusal to invite an election observation mission seriously breaches its international commitments and shows a worrying disregard for democratic standards.Election observation is not optional — it is something that all OSCE participating States have agreed to, and it is a cornerstone of transparency and accountability," OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President, Pere Joan Pons told Fox News Digital.Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a Security Council meeting in Moscow on Friday, Aug.
7, 2026.(Alexander Kazakov/Pool Sputnik Kremlin via AP)Russia enacted strict censorship laws after the invasion, criminalizing any dissent about the operation or the armed forces and spreading misinformation about the war.CIA DIRECTOR JOHN RATCLIFFE MET WITH RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS IN VISIT TO MOSCOW, KREMLIN SAYSAs the Kremlin has tried to keep popular support in favor of its war against Ukraine, a Russian court sentenced Lev Shlosberg, a vocal critic and leader of one of Russia’s only opposition parties to over 11 years in a penal colony for criticizing the war.
Prior to Shlosberg’s sentencing, Russia's Supreme Court banned his opposition Yabloko Party from participating in September’s Duma elections.There are nine parties on the list, all supportive of Putin, including the Kremlin's own United Party in the elections, the Associated Press reported. Shortly after Russia’s invasion in 2022, Moscow unilaterally annexed portions of occupied Ukrainian territory in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.In 20...