Russia’s Elections: Would a New Ruling Party Protect Domestic Abuse Victims?
I, myself, witnessed preparations for the legislative elections which were held in Russia from September 18th to 20th, 2026. The situation prompted me to shed some light on the so-called “democracy” of Russia.
Unfortunately, regardless of which party won, the possibility of Putin’s regime failing was very little. However, there was hope in the face of a party called Yabloko (meaning “apple” in English), who was the only party having a point in their manifesto for ending the war in Ukraine. In this regard, Yabloko got banned from the elections. This caused a silent panic amongst the public, as they knew they did not want to vote for the current party in charge again (United Russia,1 which is the ruling party after winning the 2021 election with 49.8% of the vote, taking 324 seats out of 450), so the next option would be the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF). In the case of tactical voting, it had some chance of winning (it held 57 seats out of 450, making it the second most popular). Below is a distribution of the seats in Duma before the elections:
Who thought that such a comparably weak opponent, such as the CPRF, would make United Russia tremble and try to defeat Matveyev (Duma’s deputy from the CPRF party) in the elections?2 The reason for this precaution is clear, though one might wonder why Matveyev was brought back to being eligible for the election after being called a “danger” and “influenced by western propaganda”.
Independent political analysts view this move to defeat Matveyev as Kremlin’s effort to suppress opposition figures before the State Duma vote. Matveyev is known for his anti-corruption stances and by publicly calling for an end to the military invasion3 of Ukraine since it began in 2022. Through this, we can see the same repeatable pattern as the Yabloko party. “The enemies of the state” should be defeated and the Russian traditional culture should thrive”.4
The reason for the regime not fully defeating Matveyev and the CPRF party still remains unsolved, but I personally view the CPRF as a party which would continue the ideas of United Russia in case they lost the elections.
The reason behind this theory is highlighted by the “no domestic abuse law”.
Let’s start with the history of attempts on regulating domestic abuse. In 2017, the Duma decriminalized domestic violence that does not require hospital treatment. Under the law, if domestic violence leads to bruises or “minor” injuries, then there is no punishment for the offender. It is only when domestic violence causes such severe injuries that it sends the victim to the hospital does it become a criminal act. First-time offenders often receive fines of only 5,000 rubles (US $88). The number of domestic violence reports to police dropped by nearly half after the law was passed. Concurrently, the Anna Center, one of the few domestic abuse centers left in Russia, reported an increase in calls from 20,000 in 2016 to 27,000 a year later.
The law passed in 2017 decriminalises some forms of domestic violence by making it an administrative rather than a criminal offence, which, of course, is not as strict as criminal. Many men got away with beating their wives to death, without the risk of spending their lives in prison.
Two years after the unsuccessful law in 2017, a bill to recriminalize domestic violence was proposed to the Duma. More than 180 ultraconservative and religious groups were indignant after this proposal. Those groups stated that criminalizing domestic violence is anti-family, while signing a letter in protest of the bill. The votes against overtook the votes for and the bill failed soon after.
Putin’s defining use of “traditional values” and hypermasculinity is possible due to an existing misogynistic society that views women’s lives as capitalizable. This belief came from the USSR, where women were not allowed to work in dangerous conditions, making men “the feeders” of every traditional family. However, during the USSR, this regulation was mainly made to keep the women’s reproduction system healthy, as modern society has a misogynistic view of female representatives.
The saying “If he beats you, it means he loves you” or “He who strikes loves” was always a thing in Russia. As a child, I heard this phrase a lot, but in my memory it was never about actual abuse and more of a joke for when a boy in school pulls someone’s hair. The history of this saying reveals the cruel reality of Russia, where violence against women is so culturally normalized that even the saying appeared as a result of them.
How can we talk about equality and justice when even the Head of the Russian Orthodox Patriarchy’s commission on family matters is extremely abusive towards women? In one of his televised talks, he said: “Some of the things happening in northern Europe now are such that even Hitler couldn’t have dreamed them up”, partially referring to the domestic abuse law.
The CPRF as a party is double-faced. From one perspective, the party critiques the decriminalisation of beating. Officially, the representatives of the party call the reform of the 2017 a mistake, they do not and have not supported it since the law came out. Nina Ostanina, a deputy from the CPRF, openly stated that the decriminalisation only made the problem worse and she thinks that the full responsibility for domestic abuse should be brought back.
On the other hand, the CPRF is strongly against the adoption of the special law on “Prevention of Domestic Violence”, as the party believes this law would break the traditional family archetypes and scare the new generation away from marriage. Furthermore, the wording of the law allows the state and juvenile justice excessive control over the family’s internal affairs.
From the facts mentioned above, it is not clear, in regards to winning the 2026 elections, whether the CPRF would be any different from United Russia with its “traditional values” and hypermusculinity. According to their communist ideologies, the CPRF party is confident that the root of domestic violence is hidden in the capitalistic system, and that poverty, lack of affordable housing, debt and chronic stress are its consequences. In their view, the problem should be addressed through improving citizens’ standards of living, not through “western” legal mechanisms.
By defining Russian values in opposition to western ones, Putin can mobilize tradition and religion in the service of a constructed national identity. The parties, either United Russia or the CPRF, are what help Putin politically. When the West pressures Russia to adopt feminist and liberal values, it hands Putin the opportunity to highlight his defense of Russian values and culture against the West.
As war in Ukraine continues, domestic abuse increases and freedom becomes more and more limited. Would the CPRF have been the answer to the Russian nation’s struggles or would it only have made the current situation worse?
1 The funny thing I noticed is that even here United Russia managed to implement its propaganda, calling the election dates “united day”, which in russian means one day, which is not true in the context of the elections. At this point it is absurd.
2 The lawsuit started in the mid of August, 2026, claimed that Matveyev used copyrighted Microsoft fonts (such as Times New Roman) in his printed campaign materials without an official license. Microsoft had pulled out of the Russian market following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, making it legally difficult for Russian citizens to secure or renew digital licenses. Following severe pushback from the Communist Party leadership, the Fourth Appeals Court in Nizhny Novgorod overturned the disqualification on August 26, 2026, putting Matveyev back on the ballot. (Medusa)
3 Another interesting point: in Russia, you are not allowed to say war towards the current situation in Ukraine, as it is not an invasion but a special operation organised to help Ukrainian citizens free themselves from Ukrainian authorities, who “wasted and frittered away the achievements of many generations”.
4 How come a man (Matveyev) who wants peace be an enemy, as well as so many singers and artists (Monetochka, Galkin, Noize MC, etc.) who cannot come back to their home country (they had been given the status of a foreign indigent) because they are against violence happening in Ukraine? However, will Kanye West, who is known as a man of inappropriate behaviour and a follower of Nazism be invited to the cultural capital of Russia (Saint Petersburg) to spread his messages? Tickets for the shows at the 70,000-capacity Gazprom Arena sold out within hours of the announcement on Monday. Prices ranged from 9,000 roubles (£78) to 160,000 roubles (£1,394), however the concert won’t be hosted, as this was a misunderstanding between Moscow based Arena office and St. Petersburg. Officially, Putin is against Nazism: “I think it is also natural that the representatives of Ukraine over and over again vote against the UN General Assembly resolution condemning the glorification of Nazism.” However the incident with Kanye West, who had been dreaming for a long time to meet Putin is real life dissonances with the previous statement by Putin. Is this the traditional culture we are talking about?
References
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