MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. The single voting day to elect lawmakers to the 9th Russian State Duma has ended, with the lower chamber of the Russian parliament set to include the same five parties and United Russia retaining the majority of seats; Europe is grappling with record-high diesel and gasoline prices, seeking a way out; and the US and Denmark seem to have found a way out of the crisis over Greenland. These stories topped Monday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.
Media: Russian State Duma to include same five parties following election, with United Russia retaining its leadership
The Single Voting Day 2026 has ended in Russia. The results of the elections held September 18-20 will determine the 450 members of parliament, as well as new governors and regional lawmakers. Preliminary results indicate that United Russia maintains a solid lead in the party-list vote. It is followed by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF), the Liberal Democratic Party of the Russian Federation (LDPR), New People, and the A Just Russia - For Truth, according to the Russian Central Election Commission’s report as of the end of September 20. Meanwhile, unprecedented cyberattacks from abroad and drone raids sought to actively disrupt the voting.
At the time all polling stations in Russia closed, voter turnout for the federal parliamentary elections stood at 56.66%, the CEC reported. This figure has already surpassed the turnout rates from the 2021, 2016, 2003, and 1993 elections. Meanwhile, the final turnout on the electronic voting platform exceeded 90%. The final election results will not be announced until September 25 at the earliest. In addition to the parliamentary elections, Russians elected regional lawmakers and municipal authority representatives in 39 regions, as well as regional heads in eight regions through direct voting.
The political system successfully passed a stress test by ensuring that the elections were held under wartime conditions, including drone attacks, new sanctions, and problems in the fuel market, Konstantin Kostin, head of the Civil Society Development Foundation and former head of the presidential administration’s Domestic Policy Department, told Vedomosti. "This fact, along with United Russia’s lead, is an important argument in support of Russia’s position in international relations and at the negotiating table," he emphasized.
Most Russians support the current course, while a minority believes their vote can make a difference. "Two factors - the desire for stability and the demand for change - overlap, resulting in a very high voter turnout," Kalachev noted. Boycotting the election as a form of protest does not seem to have been very popular, he said.
The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions, participated in parliamentary elections for the first time in history as Russia’s full-fledged subjects. According to Central Election Commission (CEC) Deputy Chairman Nikolay Bulayev, these regions are already fully integrated into the country’s overall electoral system. The same technologies are used there as throughout the country.
However, as AI and the digital ecosystem of elections become more complex, cybersecurity issues are also the rise, Dmitry Orlov, CEO of the Agency for Political and Economic Communications, told Izvestia.
Nevertheless, the political system’s ability to respond to these challenges remains paramount, a task that the 2026 campaign successfully met, the expert pointed out.
Vedomosti: How record-high diesel and gasoline prices affecting Europe
French President Emmanuel Macron called French fuel prices "unbearable" on this X page. On September 18, he met with representatives of major political parties to discuss the situation in the fuel market. As of September 17, gasoline averaged 2.6 euros per liter in the EU and 2.12 euros per liter in the eurozone.
EU governments have three main tools at their disposal: a temporary reduction in the tax component of prices, targeted assistance to vulnerable households and transportation companies, and measures to ensure greater supplies to the European market, Vladislav Belov, deputy director of the Institute of Europe, told Vedomosti. Abnormally high prices for diesel and gasoline are becoming an additional factor holding back economic growth in the EU, the expert noted. According to him, high diesel fuel prices increase costs in freight transportation, agriculture, construction, and parts of the manufacturing sector, and are then passed on to consumer prices through supply chains. Therefore, if current price levels persist in the medium term, one can expect additional inflationary pressure, a decline in real incomes and consumer demand, as well as a deterioration in the competitiveness of European manufacturers, Belov emphasized.
European countries lead the world in motor fuel prices primarily due to taxes, Alexander Frolov, deputy director of the MGIMO International Energy Policy and Security Institute, pointed out. The situation in the Middle East has worsened the disruption of Russian fuel supplies to the global market caused by attacks on Ukraine, which has driven up prices and exacerbated the chronic energy crisis that Europe has been facing since the late 2010s, the expert stressed. With the severing of business ties with Russia and the strategy to phase out its hydrocarbons by the end of 2027, the safety net has vanished, and the search for replacements in alternative markets only drives up prices, Frolov said. "Europe is affected by any upheaval on the periphery, which could previously be offset by Russian supplies combined with conservation measures," he stressed.
The causes of the fuel price crisis are the same across all regions of the world, but for the US, a key factor is the exceptionally high profitability of oil and petroleum product exports, which diverts fuel from the domestic market, Alexey Belogoriyev, research director at the Institute for Energy and Finance Foundation, emphasized. Europe, on the other hand, is a net importer: these are fundamentally different starting points, he said. The expert also stressed that EU countries are indeed experiencing the consequences of decades of "dieselization" of passenger vehicles and the severing of energy ties with Russia. Public perception of the crisis is similar in the US and Europe, but the economic consequences for European consumers are more severe, Belogoriyev noted.
Kommersant: What US should expect from new Greenland deal
The US and Denmark appear to have reached an agreement to resolve the crisis around Greenland. President Donald Trump announced that the parties will soon conclude a deal under which the Americans will, on the one hand, be able to significantly and indefinitely expand their military presence on the island and, on the other hand, prevent any attempts by their opponents to gain a foothold in this strategically important region. And although the US already had extensive rights and capabilities in Greenland, Trump considers this a diplomatic breakthrough.
The conflict between Washington and Copenhagen over the status of Greenland, which is officially part of Denmark with autonomous status, has lasted more than a year and a half and is approaching a resolution. Washington will apparently no longer attempt to buy the island, threaten to seize it by force, or persuade its residents to revolt against the central government. The US president did not disclose the text of the draft agreement but revealed its three key components. First, he said, it will be open-ended. Second, it will allow the US to significantly expand its military presence on the island, something the Americans, according to him, intend to do "immediately." And third, no US opponents will be able to establish military bases or make significant investments on the island without written approval from the Americans.
Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether this truly constitutes a diplomatic breakthrough, as Trump is eager to portray it, until the text of the new agreement is made public. Both American and European media outlets have pointed out that the US already held extensive rights and capabilities on the island under the 1951 US-Danish agreement on the defense of Greenland. They argue that the White House has achieved nothing new and that the deal merely allows the US administration to "save face."
According to international security expert Konstantin Bogdanov, American interest in Greenland is longstanding and predominantly military in nature. "Greenland’s primary significance lies in its convenient location as a forward early-warning outpost. There is a radar station there that is part of the US missile and nuclear strike warning system, oriented toward the north and northwest - that is, toward the potential trajectories of ballistic missiles launched from Russian territory, as well as cruise missiles launched over the Arctic," he told Kommersant.
Over the past 10 to 15 years, he noted, the US has reacted nervously to China’s attempts to initiate investment and infrastructure projects in Greenland. "In its current form, the agreement preserves and strengthens US priority in Greenland, eases concerns about the emergence of Chinese influence there (including the possibility of deploying technical intelligence assets), and, most importantly, resolves the diplomatic crisis in relations with Copenhagen that arose due to President Trump’s clumsy remarks," the expert concluded.
Media: Results of German local elections become 'disastrous' for Chancellor Friedrich Merz
The latest state elections in Germany have dealt a blow to the ruling party and Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The chancellor himself described the results in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as a "catastrophe." In Berlin, meanwhile, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is losing its grip on the city government. Strong gains by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) are making it increasingly difficult for mainstream parties to form coalitions, leaving their governments increasingly unstable. As Germany slides deeper into deindustrialization, the protest vote is gaining momentum.
According to Fyodor Basov, a senior researcher at the World Economy and International Relations Institute under the Russian Academy of Sciences, the popularity of the Alternative for Germany in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is growing for economic reasons, such as a decline in the population’s purchasing power and a lack of economic growth. Unemployment in this already economically weak region has reached 8%, which is higher than the national average. The far-right’s ratings are also boosted by ongoing debates over the possibility of resuming operations of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline as the region is located on the Baltic Sea coast, through which the gas pipeline runs. Following the 2022 sabotage, electricity and energy prices skyrocketed by 30-40%, placing the greatest burden on ordinary citizens, the expert told Izvestia.
If the CDU fails to win seats in the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, it will be not just a slap in the face, but a serious blow to the reputation of Merz and the party, Alexander Kamkin, an associate professor at the Russian Financial University, told Vedomosti. Given the current state of German politics, Merz has few allies, Artyom Sokolov, a senior research fellow at the MGIMO International Studies Institute, agreed. Despite all his stubbornness, the chancellor risks going down in history as a failed head of government who did not complete his full term. Merz’s government is currently paralyzed, and the CDU could lose its seats in the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and be defeated by the Left Party in Berlin. All of this means significant setbacks for the ruling party, the expert noted. Immediately after the elections, Merz will put his leadership to a vote of confidence at an emergency meeting of CDU executives and state party leaders.
The elections in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin are a test of the effectiveness of Merz’s government, for which success at the regional level is of the utmost importance, Maria Khorolskaya, a researcher at the World Economy and International Relations Institute under the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed out. The main loser in these elections will be the CDU; the party has seen its support decline in both Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin. As for Merz himself, the expert stressed that the chancellor may weather the storm and preserve the federal coalition. The head of government intends to hold on to his post, and finding a replacement who satisfies everyone will not happen quickly. The second most likely scenario is a change in the chancellorship while keeping the current government intact, Khorolskaya concluded.
Izvestia: NATO practicing blockade of Baltic Sea's access to Atlantic
NATO has deployed a major naval task force in the North Sea and the Atlantic, including a UK aircraft carrier strike group. As part of the Strike Warrior 26-2 exercises, the alliance’s member states intend to systematically test, for the first time, the joint use of all three types of drone systems: surface, underwater, and aerial UAVs. London cites the protection of deep-sea internet cables and seabed infrastructure as the official reason for the maneuvers. However, experts say that the stated goal of defending communications is a cover for more aggressive scenarios: the task force is training to intercept Russian Northern Fleet submarines at the boundary between Iceland and the Faroe Islands, as well as block exits from the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic.
The North Sea is of vital importance to Russian shipping: it is traversed by ships and vessels traveling from the Baltic Sea to the Atlantic. Therefore, extensive NATO maneuvers in the region affect the interests of both Russia’s civilian and military fleets, military expert Dmitry Boltenkov told Izvestia. According to him, due to the alliance’s increased activity in the Northeast Atlantic, Russian ships regularly set sail to monitor the situation and escort vessels. The Russian Navy will closely track the actions of NATO forces, the expert added.
Since its inception, NATO’s primary task has been preparing for confrontation, first with the Soviet Union and now with Russia. All of the alliance’s tactics, scenarios, and maneuver plans have historically been based on an assessment of our forces, weapons, and resources, Vice Admiral Alexander Brazhnik, former chief of staff and first deputy commander of the Baltic Fleet, stressed. "The main goal of these exercises, shrouded in a veil of formal secrecy, is to practice specific methods of conducting combat operations at sea, such as anti-submarine warfare, coordinating with aviation, and repelling attacks. At the same time, these maneuvers are traditionally accompanied by attempts to seal off the area in order to conceal Russia’s true capabilities and tactical maneuvers from outsiders," he explained.
According to the vice admiral, although the North Sea does not directly border Russia, it is an area of international waters where freedom of navigation applies to all. Such combat training exercises have always been monitored. The Russian Navy, air force, and satellite constellation will undoubtedly track the actions of a potential adversary and study NATO’s tactics and forces deployed. In this regard, the West’s strategy has remained unchanged for decades, Brazhnik emphasized.
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