A Council of Europe body has criticised Russia's parliamentary elections as "fake," RTE.ie reports. The assessment was published on Friday, 18 September 2026, as Russians went to the polls.
According to RTE.ie, the Council of Europe body rejected the legitimacy of the vote. The criticism centres on the conduct of the elections themselves.
Coverage of the vote from several outlets describes a contest with no meaningful opposition. CNN reported empty podiums, prizes offered for e-voting and the absence of opposition candidates, with the elections taking place amid an intensifying war in Ukraine. The Guardian framed the polls as happening against the backdrop of that war and what it described as President Vladimir Putin's tightening grip. The New York Times examined why Russia holds elections at all and how the Kremlin obtains the results it wants, while the BBC's Steve Rosenberg noted that the elections would produce few surprises but still matter to the Kremlin.
Taken together, the reporting points to a vote whose outcome was widely treated as predetermined, and which international bodies have now publicly dismissed. The Council of Europe's position adds an institutional voice to criticism that had largely come from press coverage and observers.
The immediate focus will be on how Moscow responds to the Council of Europe's assessment and whether other international bodies follow with similar statements.