Russia Election Ukraine War Veterans
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, congratulates Stepan Belov, who was named a Hero of Russia, during a meeting with participants of the "Time of Heroes" project designed to help veterans become government administrators, at a venue outside Solnechnogorsk, Russia, on Friday, June 14, 2024.
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Nearly 200 men who took part in the war in Ukraine are among the candidates for this week’s parliamentary election in Russia. The tightly controlled balloting to elect 450 members of the State Duma is the first since the full-scale invasion began. The Kremlin touts them as part of Russia’s “new elite” -- an effort to show that veterans of the 4 1/2-year-old war will have an honored place in postwar civilian life. But few analysts believe that many of them will ever hold any real power among the country’s ruling class, dismissing it as a way to lure more volunteers to fight.
