Russia claims party that backs Putin leading polls in annexed Ukraine regions

Russia Central Elections Commission made a claim on Sunday (September 10) that the United Russia Party, which staunchly backs Russian President Vladimir Putin, was leading in the local elections being held in four Ukrainian regions which are currently occupied by Russian forces.

Russia claimed last year to have annexed the eastern and southern territories in Ukraine in spite of not having controlled it fully. Ukraine has dismissed elections that are being held now as "sham".

Data on the Commission's website claimed to show that the initial count of votes indicated support for Russia.

The polls being held across Russia come ahead of presidential elections planned for next year expected to prolong Putin's rule until at least 2030.

Most of his opponents are in exile or in jail. Moscow has criminalised criticising the Ukraine invasion and has already detained thousands of people over this.

Ahead of voting in annexed Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, Russia-appointed authorities set up mobile polling booths. Moscow even claimed that a polling station was attacked by a Ukrainian drone.

Voting was also taking place in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Ukrainian security services said they had compiled a list of "collaborators" helping to organise the voting and vowed retribution.

AFP quoted voters in Rostov-on-Don, a southwest city close to Ukraine's border. The city was attacked by drones this week. They said that they were worried about the conflict.

"We just want to live in peace with our children," said 40-year-old Nina Antonova.

"Everyone is worried about this one problem -- the war. We don't have any other concerns," said 84-year-old Anatoli, a pensioner who declined to give his last name.

Mayoral vote in Moscow

Russian capital Moscow is carrying out a mayoral vote. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is a Kremlin loyalist who has been in the post since 2010. In recent days, he has been getting a lot of publicity on television. He has been seen opening new regional train routes, renovated hospitals, motorways and more.

In the last 13 years, Sobyanin has presided over many mega-projects in Moscow.

He was almost defeated in 2013 by Alexei Navalny, the most prominent face of political opposition in Russia.

Navalny was jailed in 2020 on old fraud charges his allies say were a pretext to end his political work.

Sobyanin is the easy favourite. He is up against the grandson of a veteran Communist politician and a little-known candidate from a new party dubbed "New People".

(With inputs from agencies)

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