More Than a Third of United Russia’s ‘War Candidates’ May Never Have Fought

ECFR identified 83 United Russia candidates on the 2026 Duma ballot whom the party had presented as SVO participants. Researchers found evidence of actual combat service for 52; at least 31 were unlikely to have seen combat.

Combat participation was independently checked against biographies and open-source evidence by ECFR researchers. Candidates documented only in rear, staff, medical-support or short-deployment formations were not counted as combatants unless separate evidence placed them at the front.
Chart: David AverreSource: Mikhail Komin, European Council on Foreign Relations report "Booted, then suited", September 10, 2026.