Bloomberg: “‘We are Team Putin. We are United Russia,’ read the backdrop to a gathering organized by the pro-Kremlin party earlier this month. September’s parliamentary elections are edging closer, and the bloc has reached for its trump card. Vladimir Putin does not officially lead United Russia and usually takes pains to stand apart from the parliamentary fray. But these are not usual times. The regime, tired and under strain, has an eye on the presidential election in 2024. It urgently needs the ruling party to narrow the yawning gap between its unimpressive popularity ratings and the votes required to secure a supermajority in the Duma, crucial for any constitutional tinkering in advance of that vote. United Russia’s support stands at around 27%, pedestrian especially for a party with vast administrative resources at its disposal, while trust in Putin tops 60%.”

“Crucially, the party has to manage that differential in the face of growing political apathy and distrust in institutions, plus the reality of squeezed household incomes, higher prices and a pandemic that has been killing near-record numbers of Russians daily. Trickiest of all, it needs to succeed without overdoing the perception of electoral meddling, for fear of restarting protests that, even after a crackdown over the past few months, could mean a return to the unrest seen after 2011’s parliamentary vote. Those polls, observers said, were marked by manipulation and ballot-stuffing. Elections matter to authoritarian states, contrary to common perception, and Putin has long relied on ballots to bolster his image as a leader of unparalleled popularity and invincibility.”