Russia’s ruling party circulates campaign guide to dodging ‘tough questions’ from voters

Vladimir Putin’s ruling party, United Russia, has circulated a guidance document among its MPs, campaigners, and supporters, containing a range of prepared answers to “tough questions” from voters, business daily Kommersant reported on Wednesday.

Entitled “Twelve Tough Questions for United Russia”, the document instructs campaigners on how to defend United Russia’s track record in government, including justifying unpopular restrictions on internet freedom, rising prices, coercion of public sector workers to vote, and a perceived lack of ideology.

The document is being circulated ahead of planned September elections to Russia’s parliament, the State Duma — the first legislative elections to be held in Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to the state-owned Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, United Russia’s polling figures have fallen ahead of the elections, from a high of 36% in December 2025 to 28% at the end of April.

Widespread anger over internet restrictions poses a particular challenge for the party’s campaign. In response to voters who ask why United Russia has become the “party of bans … shutting down the internet and stifling freedom of speech”, the document suggests replying that the party has “always advocated for free speech”, but that “information and psychological warfare” by Ukraine necessitates temporary restrictions.

To prove that the party believes in freedom of speech, campaigners are also told to retort: “Why, [if that’s true], are claims that United Russia is ‘stifling freedom of speech’ allowed to be shouted from every rooftop and broadcast from every channel?”

The document goes on to suggest telling voters who point out that the party “has no ideology of its own” that United Russia is “the party of the majority, the party of the interests of the entire people.”

Another “tough question” regards claims that United Russia wins elections by forcing public sector workers to vote for the party, referred to as mobilising “administrative resources”. The authors of the document do not deny that United Russia relies on voter mobilisation, but say that these tactics “do not guarantee victory”, because public sector workers “tick the ballot themselves.”

Campaigners are instructed to claim that when public sector bosses “show zeal” in support of United Russia, it actually harms the party’s chances of winning, because “a normal person under pressure begins to act out of spite.”

Supporters of Vladimir Putin, who wonder why they should vote for United Russia when every other party in the State Duma also supports Putin’s presidency, should be reminded that the party has always been “the president's instrument, with which he began to resurrect the country from chaos”.

Kommersant’s account of the document does not mention the war in Ukraine. Instead, the document’s authors write that voters worried about Russia’s future should be reassured that “the country will maintain stability [with United Russia] … and will move forward without stagnation or revolutionary catastrophes”.