Passportization — a Hybrid Russian Threat to the West

On September 19, parliamentary elections (to the State Duma) concluded in Russia. In addition to reports of massive fraud and forced voting in favor of the ruling party, United Russia, the Kremlin-orchestrated “expression of will” and the illegal issuance of Russian passports constitute a challenge to the civilized world.

Moscow involved not only residents of occupied Crimea in the elections, but also residents of the occupied areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, opened 27 polling stations in Transnistria (Moldova) and 21 polling stations in the occupied territories of Georgia—actions that violate international law.

The situation in Russia

This year’s elections are extremely important for the Russian Federation; in effect, they are a general rehearsal ahead of the 2024 Russian presidential elections. Therefore, Moscow spared no tools to ensure a respectable “result” for the presidential party.

The ratings of the ruling party, United Russia, have been declining year after year. In February, United Russia had only 27% support—an alarming signal for Putin, who still plans to rule Russia.

Thus, while the world was watching the situation in Belarus, Russia was shutting down opposition media outlets, massively removing opposition candidates from the ballot, and opening criminal cases against them.

The situation became so dire that Russia went all in and, for the first time, decided to hold illegitimate elections in the occupied areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Russian passportization

In 2019, Russia began the mass issuance of Russian passports in the occupied areas of eastern Ukraine; to date, more than 600,000 people have become their holders.

In June of this year, ahead of the State Duma elections, this process significantly accelerated. The sole reason for such haste was to ensure the participation of local residents in Russian elections. The issued “passports” contained the code of a non-existent subdivision of the Migration Service of Russia’s Rostov region and did not include residence registration. As a result, such documents do not entitle holders to social benefits and serve only as voting certificates.

Only “United Russia”

To ensure the required turnout—and, above all, the appearance of full support for Putin’s party (and, accordingly, Russia’s occupation of eastern Ukraine)—the Kremlin-controlled authorities of the so-called “republics” were actively involved.

Various events “with assistance,” and sometimes with the participation of representatives of United Russia, took place ahead of the elections. Campaigning and information drives were conducted, including the opening of 396 information centers where people were instructed on how to vote “correctly.”

The actual “voting” took place via two channels: the remote electronic voting system (REV) and in-person voting at polling stations in Russia’s Rostov region. Special transportation was organized for the latter. On September 15, the so-called “head of the DPR,” Denis Pushilin (who in July expressed a desire to become a member of United Russia), announced the organization of 825 bus routes and 12 railway trips for those “wishing” to take part in the Russian elections.

Despite these statements and figures, residents of the so-called “republics” were in no hurry to register for electronic voting and complained that they were being forced to vote for United Russia.

Realizing the impending failure, the Kremlin-controlled “authorities” resorted to intimidation and unprecedented fraud:

• public-sector employees and students were forced to register in the REV system and vote “correctly”;
• along with registration, some citizens were compelled to provide access to their REV accounts to ensure a vote for Russia’s ruling party. How this worked can be seen in a video published on YouTube, which shows an administrator of the Alchevsk cultural center carrying out mass fraud by voting online using a prepared list of REV-registered citizens on behalf of the ruling Russian party;
• according to Russian media, some citizens brought to vote in Rostov did not have Russian passports, so they were issued passports immediately before entering the polling station.

In addition, as a result of the illegitimate “elections” to the Russian State Duma, notorious militants from the so-called “DPR/LPR” also entered the parliament. It is not difficult to guess what kind of activities they will pursue in Russia’s legislature.

However, despite Moscow’s use of mass fraud and the neutralization of opposition candidates, the election results indicate a steady decline in support for Putin’s party. Therefore, in addition to the tools tested on September 17–19 to interfere in the electoral process, the Kremlin is likely to seek additional ways to ensure Putin’s victory.

What these ways will be also depends on the international community, as Russia’s illegal issuance of passports to residents of the occupied regions of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova, and their involvement in Russian elections, constitutes a violation of international law and poses a threat to the national security of all of Europe.

This method of hybrid warfare, which the Kremlin has used more than once, demonstrates that international rules and norms do not exist for Moscow—and that the next victims of Russia may be the Baltic states or the Balkans.

Dictators never stop; they are stopped.