As Russia prepares for the 2026 State Duma elections, Kremlin dismantles local self-government system.

More on this in our monthly digest covering the main election developments in February - early March 2025.

Russia begins preparations for the Unified Voting Day and State Duma elections 2026.

Read our brief overview of key political trends and major electoral events of early 2025.

Schools in Russia are not only educational institutions but also key players in the electoral process. Most polling stations are located at schools, while school staff make up the majority of election commission members.

To address the shortage of teachers in small towns and villages, Kremlin is now retraining 'war veterans' as educators.

This reportage explains how it works.

According to the recent Golos report, the rules meant to ensure financial transparency of political parties are not functioning as intended.

Instead, parties have become more secretive and learned to circumvent legal restrictions.

REM shares key findings of the report.

The movement in defense of voters' rights Golos has published an analytical report on the results of nomination and registration of gubernatorial candidates.

REM summed up the main takeaways in this article.

In June, Vladimir Putin appointed Andrey Turchak as the acting head of the Altai Republic, an economically depressive and sparsely populated region.

This appointment was seen as a "punishment" for Turchak's continued good relations with Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company.

Meduza tells how Andrei Turchak is trying to please Altai residents and earn his return to Moscow.

Although the 47-year-old Chechnya's leader Ramzan Kadyrov denies rumors about his potentially fatal illness, media and experts on Russian elites claim that Kremlin has begun to develop a plan for power transfer.

What kind of person does Kremlin need to be in charge of Chechnya, and who are potential candidates for this post – in REM's review.

We collected evidence demonstrating why the presidential vote 2024 in Cyprus can be considered the largest overseas electoral fraud in Russia's modern history.

Russian CEC adopted regulations for candidates to run for the presidency. Predictably, not all applicants were able to obtain the status of a registered candidate. Meanwhile, the election campaign of incumbent President Vladimir Putin started with violations of electoral legislation.

In this review, we briefly recap the most significant events of late 2023 and early 2024.

Parties are reluctant to participate in elections to regional and municipal assemblies, an expert report concludes. They understand the impossibility of fair competition and do not want to invest effort in fighting the ruling party. Further, the elections in the occupied territories cannot be considered legitimate either legally or procedurally.

Read more about the results of the nomination of candidates for deputies of local and regional parliaments.

A recently published "Golos" report details who holds control over the precinct electoral commissions across Russian regions. REM provides insights into the key findings of the report, emphasizing its significance as we approach the 2023 elections and the 2024 presidential elections.

On the eve of the elections, Russian authorities adopted a new package of amendments to the electoral legislation. The changes aim to help candidates from the ruling party win in the September elections.

All the proclamations about the active involvement of 'war veterans' in politics remain empty rhetoric.

In reality, the 'defenders of Donbass' hat is now worn by the same politicians who have held official positions for years. This verbiage and masquerade are designed not to please the voters but to satisfy one particular person.

A new study of Russian social media proved half of the sabre-rattling messages to be artificial duplicates orchestrated from the single centre. The research has also revealed prolific pro-governmental professional bloggers trying to dominate the Russian Internet community. And yet, they are 1.5 less popular than anti-war authors.

On 12 September 2022, President Zelensky announced the liberation of 6,000 km² in a massive counter-offensive. For President Putin, the day was the beginning of a period of humiliating defeats, of the disgraceful retreat of his army and a chaotic attempt at mobilisation.

But up to this very day, there had been an election campaign in Russia. In the choking atmosphere of "special military operation", under censorship and repression for any word of dissent, there were amazing people who dared to challenge the System.

The failure of the PR campaign uncanny resembles the collapse of the military campaign on the battlefields. A new media monitoring report on "special operation" describes the unexpected resistance of the Russian population to a heavy propagandistic barrage.