--- title: Russia Defends Elections in Occupied Regions of Ukraine | TIME description: As millions of Russians go to the polls for regional elections that wrap up on Sept. 10, there is little doubt that President Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, will win the vast majority of contests. But the tightly controlled vote will still be interpreted as a test of confidence for the beleaguered strongman. canonical: https://time.com/video/2pWEdRLc/ og:title: Russia Defends Elections in Occupied Regions of Ukraine og:description: As millions of Russians go to the polls for regional elections that wrap up on Sept. 10, there is little doubt that President Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, will win the vast majority of contests. But the tightly controlled vote will still be interpreted as a test of confidence for the beleaguered strongman. og:url: https://time.com/video/2pWEdRLc/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2pWEdRLc/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Russia Defends Elections in Occupied Regions of Ukraine twitter:description: As millions of Russians go to the polls for regional elections that wrap up on Sept. 10, there is little doubt that President Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, will win the vast majority of contests. But the tightly controlled vote will still be interpreted as a test of confidence for the beleaguered strongman. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2pWEdRLc/poster.jpg?width=720 --- * World # Russia Defends Elections in Occupied Regions of Ukraine > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Russia Defends Elections in Occupied Regions of Ukraine [Watch (HLS stream): Russia Defends Elections in Occupied Regions of Ukraine](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2pWEdRLc.m3u8) (1:47)  _Published 2023-09-08. As millions of Russians go to the polls for regional elections that wrap up on Sept. 10, there is little doubt that President Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, will win the vast majority of contests. But the tightly controlled vote will still be interpreted as a test of confidence for the beleaguered strongman._ --- Sep 8, 2023 10:20 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [U.S. and UN Expresses Concern Over Russia Holding Elections in Occupied Ukrainian Regions](/video/YEclwwLN/) ### U.S. and UN Expresses Concern Over Russia Holding Elections in Occupied Ukrainian Regions [Vladimir Putin’s Meeting With Xi Jinping Comes at a Crucial Time for Russia](/video/dGP9YBWb/) ### Vladimir Putin’s Meeting With Xi Jinping Comes at a Crucial Time for Russia [Vladimir Putin's Challenger Says He Would Win if Russia's Elections Were Fair](/video/4GscIM1x/) ### Vladimir Putin's Challenger Says He Would Win if Russia's Elections Were Fair --- ## Transcript The Vespers, Russia has attempted to legitimize his illegal occupation of the Ukrainian, territories by organizing. And I'll try the action force, just serve as a proof that Russia realizes the inevitability of its defeat. We do not and will never recognize these illegal actions and emphasise that their results will be null and void and cannot be used legally facts on the international law. Likewise, Any activity of illegally created. So cold administrations in so-called local authorities in the temporarily occupied areas. So Ukraine will have no legal effect will not alter the internationally-recognized stages of these areas as integral parts of Southern territory of Ukraine. We call on the International Community to condemn the use of the Russian election system on the territory. Open out-of-state. We also urge not recognized the so-called results of these fake elections legitimacy of so-called authorities and officials to be appointed by the occupying power under the guise of local Representatives, as well as legitimacy of any decisions to be made by the occupying power on behalf of these, sorts of situations difference between accused A few minutes. I was looking to go through this way booty. She needs to start seeing. If you trust between Zurich and semi-sweet, just love me and you. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Russia Defends Elections in Occupied Regions of Ukraine","description":"As millions of Russians go to the polls for regional elections that wrap up on Sept. 10, there is little doubt that President Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, will win the vast majority of contests. 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