Kathrine Frich
It allows commanders to hide heavy combat losses while reporting near-total political loyalty to the Kremlin.
Elections are usually built on the basic idea that every ballot represents a living person making a choice.
But when intense pressure to deliver political results meets a brutal conflict, the normal rules bend in dark ways.
A phantom workforce
Russian military commanders in occupied southern Ukraine are allegedly using deceased troops to manufacture fake political support. According to United24 Media, officers have been using the identities of fallen soldiers to pad vote totals for the ruling Kremlin party.
The pro-Ukrainian partisan movement ATESH uncovered the scheme inside Russia’s 291st Motor Rifle Regiment. Commanders in Zaporizhzhia were under strict orders to deliver a massive turnout for United Russia during early State Duma voting.
Heavy battlefield losses left the regiment drastically short of living personnel. To meet the assigned quota, clerical staff simply delayed logging killed or missing soldiers in official unit records.
Casting ghost ballots
By keeping fallen troops on active rolls, staff officers were able to fill out batches of paper ballots on their behalf. Clerks then personally delivered the fraudulent votes to polling sites in occupied towns like Melitopol, Berdiansk, and Tokmak.
ATESH named several fallen servicemen whose identities were allegedly weaponized for the election. The list includes reconnaissance soldier Zamir Kazharov, tank commander Senior Sergeant Valentin Aleksandrov, and corporal Valery Karpenko.
The cover-up creates a painful double tragedy for grieving relatives back in Russia. Because military bosses refuse to formally log the deaths, families remain completely unable to obtain official death certificates or collect government compensation.
Partisans describe the practice as a widespread system of dead souls that extends far beyond a single unit. It allows commanders to hide heavy combat losses while reporting near-total political loyalty to the Kremlin.
The rigged voting comes as Kyiv warns of further escalation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that internal Russian documents point to plans for another major troop mobilization right after the staged parliamentary elections finish.
Sources: United24 Media, ATESH
