Putin wins record number of seats in sham election after anti-war party was banned from taking part

Russian president Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won a record number of seats in the country's lower house of parliament. United Russia won 355 seats out of the 450-seat Duma, according to preliminary results released by electoral chief Ella Pamfilova. With almost all votes counted after the three-day election with no parties critical of Mr Putin participating, results showed the presidential party will have a super-majority larger than its previous 2016 record. The Kremlin has already begun gloating, claiming the latest results show Russians stand united around Mr Putin. Last month, a Moscow court banned Russia's only liberal and anti-war party, Yabloko. The case was heard after rival political party Rodina brought a lawsuit against Yabloko, accusing it of publicly supporting an extremist organisation by publishing material on its website in support of the 'international LGBT movement', which Russia designated as extremist in 2023.Russia's financial monitoring service also accused Yabloko of taking money through third parties from foreign countries, including Germany and the US. Earlier today, the UK – along with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway condemned Russia's 'sham elections' held in occupied Ukrainian territory. Russian president Vladimir Putin's (pictured) United Russia party won a record number of seats in the country's lower house of parliamentA statement published on the UK Foreign Office's website read: 'Holding Russia's State Duma elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, as Russia did in Crimea and Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, is a gross violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and independence, and the UN Charter.'These sham elections are part of a wider system of occupation: the imposition of Russian administration, law, media, education, language and citizenship, backed by coercion and repression. This includes reports of the enforced disappearance, detention, and torture of thousands of Ukrainian citizens.'These regions are part of Ukraine and holding sham elections cannot alter the status of these territories under international law. We continue to stand with Ukraine.'It comes as the EU scrambles to extend sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, after France demanded oligarch Alisher Usmanov be taken off the blacklist.The 27-nation bloc last week pushed back a deadline for prolonging its asset freezes and visa bans on some 3,000 individuals and entities to midnight on Tuesday. Ambassadors in Brussels were set to meet for talks on Monday afternoon after failing to make a breakthrough in the morning.All EU countries are required to agree to extend the sanctions – a key part of the bloc's response to Russia's war since 2022 – every six months.This time around an agreement has been held up as France has joined Slovakia in calling for Russian-Uzbek billionaire Mr Usmanov to be removed from the blacklist.Officials in Paris have cited 'national security' concerns for the request, but refused publicly to give details.The Financial Times has reported that the demand is linked to a potential prisoner release deal involving French nationals held in Azerbaijan.More hawkish EU countries – including Poland and Baltic states – are fiercely opposed to easing the sanctions on Mr Usmanov for political reasons.Meanwhile, diplomats said that Luxembourg is insisting that if Mr Usmanov is taken off the list, it wants to see sanctions lifted on another Russian tycoon, Mikhail Fridman.A diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a compromise deal on the table would see Mr Usmanov and Mr Fridman removed, and the rest of the sanctions extended for up to 36 months.Multiple EU diplomats insisted that despite the standoff over Mr Usmanov, there was widespread agreement that the EU sanctions should not be allowed to lapse.The blacklist includes key figures such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.