478 war participants took part in United Russia’s primaries, and every tenth one won ...

478 war participants took part in United Russia’s primaries, and every tenth one won. In reality, these are not ordinary military men, but experienced politicians

United Russia has concluded its primaries ahead of the State Duma elections. Over the past few months, the media kept reporting that many participants in the Russia-Ukraine war would take part in these pre-elections. In the end, 478 military men entered the primaries, and at least 47 “veterans” may ultimately become United Russia deputies in the State Duma.

However, most of them are not ordinary military men who took part in combat operations, but officials and deputies who have been to the front. It is known that many served in units that allow politicians to be listed in the army while exposing themselves to virtually no danger (they can even go abroad on vacation).

But it is still too early to assess their chances of making it onto United Russia’s final lists, because the primaries affect them only partially. What can be said for sure, however, is that Dmitry Dyuzhev will not take part in the Duma elections. The popular actor turned out to be крайне unpopular among his fellow party members.

Meduza special correspondent Andrei Pertsev explains why the Kremlin and United Russia needed these quasi-military figures, and sums up the other results of the ruling party’s primaries.

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478 war participants took part in United Russia’s primaries, and every tenth one won. In reality, these are not ordinary military men…

United Russia has concluded its primaries ahead of the State Duma elections. The ruling party and the political bloc of the presidential administration fell short of the KPI they had set for themselves of 10% turnout from the total number of voters in Russia: the final turnout, according to official…