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.
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. (Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin, foreground right, speaks with members of the military in the Kremlin in Moscow on Friday, June 12, 2026, as Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, right, stands nearby. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - A sign reading "Vote online, reliable, affordable, simple" for Russia's parliamentary election is displayed at a bus stop in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, with a billboard in the background showing a soldier with the words "Russia's Pride." (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)
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