A Russian election and a warning to Europe about Russian aggression

0:00This message comes from the NBC News podcast. Here's the scoop. It's a daily look at the top headlines with deeper conversations about the stories shaping the world, from the economy to AI to the midterms. Listen to Here's the Scoop, a podcast from NBC News. Today on State of the World, a Russian election and a warning to Europe about Russian aggression.

0:25You're listening to State of the World from NPR, a human perspective on global events. It's Friday, September 18th. I'm Greg Dixon. We'll hear about Russia's parliamentary election in a minute. But first, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk warns that Russia is planning, quote, accidental strikes on countries supporting Ukraine. This comes after a number of incidents blamed on Russia in countries that are part of the NATO alliance. Esme Nicholson in Berlin tells us more about what the Polish Prime Minister said. His warning was loud and clear and essentially Tusk was saying that Russia is planning to send drones or missiles into NATO territory and then claim that these incidents are accidental.

1:07He went on to say that these potential strikes intend to paralyze NATO or at least weaken the alliance's willingness to respond collectively to demonstrate that Article 5 exists only in theory. Article 5, of course, meaning an attack on one is an attack on all. Tusk said that he received intelligence from NATO, Ukraine and U.S. agencies, but he didn't specify which one he was citing. It's important, I think, to stress here that Tusk said, quote, there is nothing to suggest an invasion. But he warned that Poland is about to face a real test as one of Ukraine's staunchest allies. And he added that the coming months are likely to be the most critical for Ukraine as Russia attempts to further destroy its economy and infrastructure.

1:50That was NPR's Esme Nicholson in Berlin. It's been more than four and a half years since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia has so far gained minimal territory, while their casualties are in the hundreds of thousands. Russians begin voting in parliamentary elections today, through the weekend. But don't expect the war to be up for debate. NPR's Moscow correspondent Charles Maines tells us more. Here was the scene in central Moscow last month. A group of several hundred people had gathered outside Russia's Supreme Court, most of them young and clearly nervous, and the scores of police watching.

2:27Myself, I'm a Christian, and I think that there shouldn't be any war going on, like anywhere. Risha is a recent high school graduate who requested we only use his first name out of fear of government reprisals over his opposition to the invasion of Ukraine, which brings us back to the courthouse and why he was here. Today we are here to support Yabloka and people who are right there in court. At issue, a hearing to decide whether or not Yabloka, the lone registered party in Russia calling for an end to the war in Ukraine, would be allowed to run in parliamentary elections. Risha was holding out for a miracle.

3:01We have a sane Russian that hope dies the last. Only on that day, for Risha and others here, it did. Court justices stripped Yabloko from the ballot on an unexpected technicality. The party violated American copyright law.

3:21Yabloko's leader, Nikolai Rybakov, later told journalists the ruling was a farce that denied Russians a choice many desperately want. In essence, Yabloko was banned from the elections because we stand for peace and freedom, and those who ban us stand for the exact opposite. Alexander Kino, an independent political analyst based in Moscow, says it's not so much yabloka the government fears as much as anything that could serve as a catalyst for opposition to the war. He points to a web of new laws and other penalties, like being labeled a foreign agent, that have been used to imprison or disqualify critical voices across the political spectrum.

4:02Over these last few years, they've come up with all sorts of ways to remove candidates from a race at any moment. And then there's Russia's opposition in exile. Its best-known member, Yulia Navalny, heard here, has taken on the anti-war work of her husband, the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, after his death in a remote Russian prison more than two years ago. Yet even now, the mere mention of Navalny's name or appearance of his image risks violating strict anti-extremism laws inside Russia. In this constrained political environment, 10 other parties technically remain in the race, but Kinov says the rules are understood.

4:37They can talk about issues, just not the ones that matter most. Talking about foreign policy is forbidden. Disagreeing with the situation in Ukraine is forbidden. Criticism of the government is forbidden. Campaign moments that capture the dynamic have gone viral on social media. Like televised debates, where none of the candidates have shown up, or when they do, they stick to the safest of scripts. Support for the family begins with support for the child, declares this candidate. Anything to add, asked the moderator. The answer was no. So they both just stood there, waiting for his allotted time to end.

5:21President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin. Into this void enter President Vladimir Putin.

5:34The Kremlin leader has thrown his support to his longtime ruling United Russia bloc, while insisting in a nationwide address this week the election would prove the country is united behind the war effort. That includes in the occupied parts of Ukraine, where state television has shown Russian soldiers overseeing the vote for the first time since Moscow claimed to annex the territories, and with the emergence of war veterans on party candidate lists, part of what Putin calls a new elite shaping the future of Russian politics.

6:06The Kremlin has also recruited Russian celebrities, including Washington Capital's hockey star Alexander Ovechkin, to participate in United Russia campaign videos alongside party leaders, such as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The ad comes as the Kremlin seeks to overcome growing public anxieties over a host of issues tied to the war, including Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy targets that have cause gas shortages nationwide and state restrictions on the Internet that have frustrated the lives of millions, says the analyst Kinov. People don't understand when this war will end. They want an answer to the question, when will life be normal again?

6:44Also hovering over the vote, fears a new wave of mobilization could soon force hundreds of thousands more Russians into the conflict. Putin has dismissed the rumors as nonsense in a disinformation campaign, Aware analysts say the last draft he announced in 2022 was deeply unpopular. Yet Alexey Tabalov of School of the Conscript, an independent organization that defends the interests of soldiers, says mobilization is happening just on the sly, with forced contract signings increasingly common.

7:19No one will pronounce the word mobilization out loud, but it's clear that Putin needs more men. It's yet another sign that the war in Ukraine will grind on long past election day, says Tabalov, with anti-war critics banned from participation and Russia's army quietly refueling its ranks to fight on as long as the Kremlin deems necessary. Charles Maines, NPR News, Moscow.

7:49That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.

7:56This week on the NPR Politics Podcast, the midterms are less than 50 days away. And in some states, people are already voting. We've got a special episode previewing key races to watch across the country. It's your midterm survival cheat sheet. Don't miss it. This week on the NPR Politics Podcast. This is Tanya Mosley, co-host of Fresh Air. Ten years ago, Colin Kaepernick took the knee during the national anthem, and it cost him his NFL career. He's rarely talked about it since. Now he tells the story of that decision and why he still trains every day to play. But I am not at the point of accepting I will never step on a field again.

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