The Kremlin reportedly established a list of the top five State Duma candidates to represent the Kremlin’s United Russia ruling party in the September 2026 State Duma elections. Three sources told Russian outlet RBK on January 19 that the Russian Presidential Administration’s office and ruling United Russia Party decided on the top five leaders to represent United Russia in the September 2026 State Duma elections: Russian Security Council Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Russian Yunarmia Chief of the General Staff Captain Vladislav Golovin, Maryana Lysenko (a prominent Russian doctor who led City Clinical Hospital No. 52 and received the title of Hero of Labor for her work combatting the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia), and Kremlin-coopted and Kremlin-awarded Russian milblogger Yevgeny Poddubny.[1] The candidates in these recurring lists historically have been domestically popular political figures who hold prominent positions in the Russian political sphere, including other senior government posts, and who will likely decline their parliamentary seats in favor of retaining their more powerful or lucrative positions that they currently occupy.
Putin’s reported platforming of hardline pro-war public figures highlights a Kremlin effort to present pro-war figures as the role models who embody Russia’s informal state ideology and political priorities going into 2026. The list is not officially confirmed and is not final. The final unified federal list can contain up to 15 candidates, however the ballot will only list the first five candidates representative of the United Russia Party’s, and thereby Russian President Vladimir Putin’s, political agenda.[2] RBK’s sources indicated that Putin decides on the final list of candidates himself.[3] RBK reported that Medvedev, who frequently represents fringe Kremlin positions and has previously issued veiled and overt nuclear threats aimed at Europe and the United States, will likely rank first on the list.[4]
Medvedev’s position on the list is noteworthy. Medvedev has threatened Europe with language that directly mirrors the Kremlin’s false justifications for its invasion of Ukraine.[5] Medvedev also staunchly continues to support Putin’s war in Ukraine, frequently parroting Kremlin narratives to justify the continuation of the war.[6] Medvedev’s reported position on the United Russia list suggests that Medvedev’s bellicose public statements — including those threating Europe and the United States — are representative of the Kremlin’s promoted messaging, rather than his own idiosyncratic inflammatory remarks. Lavrov similarly is a pro-war ally of Putin, frequently justifying Russia’s war in Ukraine and invoking the ”root causes” of the war (a term that the Kremlin has long used as shorthand to mean its original maximalist war justifications and demands).[7] Lavrov recently claimed that a peace settlement to Russia’s war in Ukraine needs to resolve the issue of those living in Novorossiya — an invented region that Kremlin officials often claim is “integral” to Russia and that includes all of eastern and southern Ukraine, including those that Russia has not illegally annexed.[8] The reported list also notably includes a Russian milblogger that was not fully Kremlin-controlled prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – Yevgeny Poddubny. The Kremlin coopted Poddubny in December 2022 and has since used him to disseminate official narratives in the Russian ultranationalist information space.[9] The reported inclusion of Poddubny on the list indicates Putin’s commitment to the continued militarization of Russian society and the preparation of the domestic audience for a protracted war in Ukraine and potential future war with NATO.[10] It is unclear how these five individuals are related to Putin’s announced “Year of the Unity of the Peoples of Russia ” which Putin stated would be a major focus in 2026.[11] Pro-war politics may in fact supersede the thematic focus over the Year of the Unity of the Peoples of Russia in 2026.
The list, if genuine, suggests that Putin is attempting to further cement a pro-war ideological vanguard in Russian political life by platforming public figures who push Putin’s war and larger pro-war political agenda. RBK characterized Lavrov and Medvedev as domestically popular, with sources reportedly claiming that Medvedev is especially popular with the Russian cleavage that prefers “to vote for the government.”[12] RBK similarly amplified Kremlin-controlled domestic polling that positions Lavrov as “one of the most popular politicians in Russia.” The candidates strongly endorse Russia’s war in Ukraine, aggressive and hawkish rhetoric toward Europe, and nationalistic messaging that encourages Russian society to rally around the Kremlin line. The reported list is not indicative of Russian Duma election results, but is noteworthy as it offers Putin an opportunity to publicly define early in the year his political and ideological positions that all Russians should emulate. Most if not all of the five mentioned candidates will likely waive their positions, so the list is a symbolic representation of Putin’s endorsement of their public support of the war, and another indicator that Putin continues to condition Russian society for protracted war against Ukraine and possibly NATO.
Russia reportedly has begun using unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) equipped with thermobaric artillery launchers to adapt artillery to current drone-dominated battlefield conditions. A Ukrainian-telegram channel published footage on January 19 that shows Russian forces testing the Malvina-M — the first Russian unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) equipped with thermobaric artillery.[13] Ukrainian defense outlet Militarnyi reported on January 19 that Russian engineers integrated 220mm guide rails from the TOS-1A Solntsepek thermobaric artillery system with the Malvina-M UGV.[14] Thermobaric weapons, also known as vacuum or aerosol bombs, are a specialized type of explosive munition that generates a significant overpressure explosion and extreme heat by dispersing and igniting an aerosol cloud of explosives while sucking out the surrounding oxygen.[15] Traditional thermobaric artillery systems are effective in destroying fortified structures such as entrenched infantry positions and bunkers. Russia’s principal thermobaric artillery launcher, the TOS-1A, is a large, expensive, relatively slow-moving vehicle on a tank chassis with a short firing range that requires Russian forces to bring the system within about six kilometers of the frontline, making them highly susceptible to Ukrainian drones. Russia’s integration of thermobaric artillery onto UGV platforms could allow Russian forces to conceal and launch thermobaric artillery much closer to the frontline and mitigate factors that degrade the effectiveness of traditional heavy thermobaric artillery systems.
Key Takeaways
- The Kremlin reportedly established a list of the top five State Duma candidates to represent the Kremlin’s United Russia ruling party in the September 2026 State Duma elections.
- Putin’s reported platforming of hardline pro-war public figures highlights a Kremlin effort to present pro-war figures as the role models who embody Russia’s political priorities going into 2026.
- The list, if genuine, suggests that Putin is attempting to further cement a pro-war ideological vanguard in Russian political life by platforming public figures who push Putin’s war and larger pro-war political agenda.
- Russia reportedly has begun using unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) equipped with thermobaric artillery launchers to adapt artillery to current drone-dominated battlefield conditions.
- Russian forces have reportedly split the grouping operating in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area into two tactical groups: the Dzerzhinsk (the Russian name for Toretsk) and Bakhmut tactical groups.
- Ukrainian forces recently advanced in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area. Russian forces recently advanced in Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts and near Slovyansk.