MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Beginning today and through the weekend, Russians head to the polls to choose lawmakers for their parliament. This is Russia's first nationwide parliamentary race since launching its full-scale invasion in Ukraine more than 4 1/2 years ago. But don't expect the war to be up for debate in this election. From Moscow, NPR's Charles Maynes has our story.
CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: Here was the scene in Central Moscow last month. A group of several hundred people had gathered outside Russia's Supreme Court, most of them young and clearly nervous from the scores of police watching.
RISHA: Myself, I'm a Christian, and I think that there shouldn't be any war going on, like, anywhere.
MAYNES: Risha is a recent high school graduate who requested we only use his first name out of fear of government reprisals over his opposition to the invasion of Ukraine, which brings us back to the courthouse and why he was here.
RISHA: Today, we are here to support Yabloko and people who are right there in court.
MAYNES: At issue, a hearing to decide whether or not Yabloko, the lone registered party in Russia calling for an end to the war in Ukraine, will be allowed to run in parliamentary elections. Risha was holding out for a miracle.
RISHA: We have a saying in Russia that hope dies last.
MAYNES: Only on that day, for Risha and others here, it did.
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UNIDENTIFIED JUDGE: (Non-English language spoken).
MAYNES: Court justices stripped Yabloko from the ballot on an unexpected technicality. The party violated American copyright law.
NIKOLAY RYBAKOV: (Speaking Russian).
MAYNES: Yabloko's leader, Nikolay Rybakov, later told journalists the ruling was a farce that denied Russians a choice many desperately want.
RYBAKOV: (Through interpreter) In essence, Yabloko was banned from the elections because we stand for peace and freedom, and those who banned us stand for the exact opposite.
ALEXANDER KYNEV: (Speaking Russian).
MAYNES: Alexander Kynev, an independent political analyst based in Moscow, says it's not so much Yabloko the government fears as much as anything that could serve as a catalyst for opposition to the war. He points to a web of new laws and other penalties, like being labeled a foreign agent, that have been used to imprison or disqualify critical voices across the political spectrum.
KYNEV: (Through interpreter) Over these last few years, they've come up with all sorts of ways to remove candidates from a race at any moment.
MAYNES: And then there's Russia's opposition in exile.
YULIA NAVALNAYA: (Speaking Russian).
MAYNES: Its best known member, Yulia Navalnaya, heard here, has taken on the anti-war work of her husband, the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, after his death in a remote Russian prison more than two years ago. Yet even now, the mere mention of Navalny's name or appearance of his image risks violating strict anti-extremism laws inside Russia. In this constrained political environment, 10 other parties technically remain in the race, but Kynev says the rules are understood. They can talk about issues, just not the ones that matter most.
KYNEV: (Through interpreter) Talking about foreign policy is forbidden. Disagreeing with the situation in Ukraine is forbidden. Criticism of the government is forbidden.
MAYNES: Campaign moments that capture the dynamic have gone viral on social media...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).
MAYNES: ...Like televised debates where none of the candidates have shown up, or when they do, they stick to the safest of scripts.
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UNIDENTIFIED CANDIDATE: (Non-English language spoken).
MAYNES: "Support for the family begins with support for the child," declares this candidate. Is that all, asked the moderator? The answer was yes, so they just stood there waiting for his allotted time to end.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: (Non-English language spoken) Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
MAYNES: Into this void, enter President Vladimir Putin.
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PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN: (Non-English language spoken).
MAYNES: The Kremlin leader has thrown his support to his longtime ruling United Russia bloc while insisting in a nationwide address this week, the election would prove the country is united behind the war effort.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Non-English language spoken).
MAYNES: That includes in the occupied parts of Ukraine, where state television has shown Russian soldiers overseeing the vote for the first time since Moscow claimed to annex the territories and with the emergence of war veterans on party candidate lists, part of what Putin calls a new elite shaping the future of Russian politics.
Yet such moves do little to address growing public anxieties over a host of issues tied to the war, including Ukrainian drone strikes on civilian infrastructure and state restrictions on the internet that have frustrated the lives of millions, says the analyst Kynev.
KYNEV: (Through interpreter) People don't understand when this war will end. They want an answer to the question, when will life be normal again?
MAYNES: Also hovering over the vote - fears a new wave of mobilization could soon force hundreds of thousands more Russians into the conflict.
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PUTIN: (Non-English language spoken).
MAYNES: Putin has dismissed the rumors as nonsense and a disinformation campaign - aware, analysts say, the last draft he announced in 2022 was deeply unpopular.
ALEXEY TABALOV: (Speaking Russian).
MAYNES: Yet Alexey Tabalov of School of the Conscript, an independent organization that defends the interests of soldiers, says mobilization is happening - just on the sly, with forced contract signings increasingly common.
TABALOV: (Through interpreter) No one will pronounce the word mobilization out loud. But it's clear that Putin needs more men.
MAYNES: It's yet another sign that the war in Ukraine will grind on long past election day, says Tabalov, with anti-war critics banned from participation and Russia's army quietly refueling its ranks to fight on as long as the Kremlin deems necessary. Charles Maynes, NPR News, Moscow. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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