Russians Turn to Low-Risk Protest Tactics as United Russia’s Duma Win Looms

United Russia and its allies are poised to secure a super-majority in the upcoming State Duma elections, leaving voters with few genuine alternatives. The Kremlin has suppressed anti-war candidates, even removing Yabloko from the party-list ballot, and a United Russia candidate, Natalia Moskvitina, faces feminist activism over her anti-abortion stance. In St. Petersburg, an unnamed woman will serve as a Yabloko poll observer, while groups such as Feminist Anti-War Resistance, Peaceful Russia, and the “Noon for Peaceful Russia” initiative plan coordinated turnout at noon on Sept. 20 to create visible protest images.

Exiled opposition leaders Yulia Navalnaya and Maxim Katz are urging citizens to vote for any party other than United Russia, a strategy criticized by Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov. Additional efforts include the “Vote Abroad” volunteers conducting exit polls in around 40 foreign cities to document possible fraud. Some Russians remain skeptical, opting out of voting altogether, arguing that participation will not change the outcome.