In what must be the world’s least surprising election result, parties loyal to President Vladimir Putin have made a clean sweep in elections to Russia’s parliament, the State Duma.There’s little purpose to parsing who won what share of the vote; the point is that opponents of Putin and his war were either jailed, dead, in exile or banned from running. As a democratic exercise, this signified nothing — but it was an important moment nonetheless.Putin’s approach to this conflict has changed. Where he once felt he had time to wait until Ukraine and its backers faltered, he now wants the war over quickly and on his terms. So what mattered to the career KGB agent and his like-minded officials this month was not that the election would let Russians pass judgment on his plans, but rather that it should help ensure public acquiescence to the demands for greater sacrifice he will soon make.

In what must be the world’s least surprising election result, parties loyal to President Vladimir Putin have made a clean sweep in elections to Russia’s parliament, the State Duma.There’s little purpose to parsing who won what share of the vote; the point is that opponents of Putin and his war were either jailed, dead, in exile or banned from running. As a democratic exercise, this signified nothing — but it was an important moment nonetheless.Putin’s approach to this conflict has changed. Where he once felt he had time to wait until Ukraine and its backers faltered, he now wants the war over quickly and on his terms. So what mattered to the career KGB agent and his like-minded officials this month was not that the election would let Russians pass judgment on his plans, but rather that it should help ensure public acquiescence to the demands for greater sacrifice he will soon make.

In what must be the world’s least surprising election result, parties loyal to President Vladimir Putin have made a clean sweep in elections to Russia’s parliament, the State Duma.There’s little purpose to parsing who won what share of the vote; the point is that opponents of Putin and his war were either jailed, dead, in exile or banned from running. As a democratic exercise, this signified nothing — but it was an important moment nonetheless.Putin’s approach to this conflict has changed. Where he once felt he had time to wait until Ukraine and its backers faltered, he now wants the war over quickly and on his terms. So what mattered to the career KGB agent and his like-minded officials this month was not that the election would let Russians pass judgment on his plans, but rather that it should help ensure public acquiescence to the demands for greater sacrifice he will soon make.

In what must be the world’s least surprising election result, parties loyal to President Vladimir Putin have made a clean sweep in elections to Russia’s parliament, the State Duma.There’s little purpose to parsing who won what share of the vote; the point is that opponents of Putin and his war were either jailed, dead, in exile or banned from running. As a democratic exercise, this signified nothing — but it was an important moment nonetheless.Putin’s approach to this conflict has changed. Where he once felt he had time to wait until Ukraine and its backers faltered, he now wants the war over quickly and on his terms. So what mattered to the career KGB agent and his like-minded officials this month was not that the election would let Russians pass judgment on his plans, but rather that it should help ensure public acquiescence to the demands for greater sacrifice he will soon make.