Putin calls on Russians to go to the polls: ‘No one will succeed in dividing us’

President Vladimir Putin addressed the Russian people today in a televised speech, urging them to vote in the elections to renew the Duma (the lower house of Parliament). “Your choice will demonstrate once again that millions of people stand shoulder to shoulder with our fighters, that we are a united people, bound together by shared values, our historical memory and our love for our homeland, and that no one will succeed in dividing or intimidating us,” said Putin, as quoted by RIA Novosti, in a three-minute address. The elections are scheduled to take place from Friday to Sunday.

The President’s address ahead of the parliamentary elections has now become a tradition. This is, however, the first parliamentary election since the start of the conflict in Ukraine in 2022. The last elections were, in fact, held in 2021. For the first time, Putin emphasised, voting will also take place in what Moscow calls the ‘new regions’ – the four areas of Ukraine partially occupied by Russian troops and officially annexed to the Russian Federation following referendums held in September four years ago. “Our great country is undergoing a significant, and in many ways decisive, election campaign,” said the president, stating that participation in the elections is a contribution to the victory of our troops on the ground and expressing his conviction that true patriots will be elected from the ballot boxes. “This,” he added, “will be our collective response to those who wish to weaken Russia, hinder its development and deprive us of our sovereignty and the right to determine our own destiny.” “Our heroes are forging victory on the battlefield,” Putin continued, but victory is “brought closer by all those who work honestly for the Motherland and understand their responsibility for its future”.

Meanwhile, Russia’s intelligence services are reportedly planning to carry out targeted assassinations in the United States and in European countries that support Ukraine. This was stated by US federal authorities, who announced that they had foiled a plot to kill a well-known Russian dissident believed to be living in Washington. According to an indictment made public at the federal court in Manhattan, five people believed to be living abroad have been charged.

The document states that, from 2024, a network linked to the Russian intelligence services allegedly paid, or attempted to pay, individuals in the United States and other countries to monitor and then kill Russian dissidents. According to the indictment, those recruited by the network were also allegedly asked to carry out acts of terrorism against civilian and military infrastructure in European countries considered aligned with Ukraine. James C. Barnacle Jr., head of the FBI’s New York office, stated that the agency had foiled the plans ‘through relentless work’, whilst members of the intelligence services and their affiliates “conspired to intimidate, threaten or kill people on US soil and around the world”.

According to the statement, a network of individuals working for the Russian Federation’s intelligence services had been conspiring, since at least 2024, to carry out – and had in fact carried out – attacks and murders around the world, including in the United States. Previously, the network had focused on Russian dissidents and defectors, but following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it had also targeted countries considered to be allies of Ukraine. Recently, members of the network are alleged to have attempted to recruit several people in the United States.