Russia’s three-day parliamentary election is being conducted for the first time in the Ukrainian regions Moscow claims to have annexed, extending the Kremlin’s political system into territory still contested in the war and not recognized internationally as Russian. Voting for the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, began Friday and is scheduled to continue through Sunday. In the Russian-held portions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, however, balloting began in late August. Russian officials cited security concerns for the extended voting period. Moscow says the four regions contain more than 3.5 million eligible voters. Russia declared them annexed in September 2022, even though its forces did not control all of the territory. Ukraine and most of the international community reject the declarations as violations of international law. Russia also is holding the election in Crimea, which it seized and annexed in 2014. At one polling station in the Russian-controlled part of Donetsk, an armed Russian soldier stood nearby as voters cast ballots, according to footage and accounts from the region. President Vladimir Putin promoted participation in the occupied territories in a speech Wednesday, describing the vote as the first parliamentary election for residents since their “reunification with Russia.” He also said Russian troops involved in the war would be voting. The election is the first wartime vote for the State Duma and is intended to reinforce the Kremlin’s political control while presenting an image of public support for the invasion. Putin said the election would show that millions of people stand behind Russian forces and share a common national identity. Ukrainian authorities urged foreign governments and international organizations not to recognize the voting or any results announced from the occupied regions. Kyiv also warned Ukrainians that helping organize the election could result in criminal charges. Nine Ukrainian human rights organizations called on residents of the Russian-held territories to avoid the polls, saying the election was designed to give a veneer of legitimacy to Russia’s occupation and attempted annexation. Violeta Artemchuk, a coordinator with the Donbas SOS rights group, said local election workers were visiting homes with Russian soldiers and security agents. She alleged that Moscow-appointed authorities were threatening public-sector workers with dismissal and tying pensions, social assistance and humanitarian aid to participation. Residents who refuse to vote, Artemchuk said, could be labeled disloyal and lose access to benefits. Those allegations could not be independently verified in the heavily controlled areas. Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst at Kyiv’s Penta Center, said an election held amid continuing bombardment cannot be considered democratic. “Elections held at gunpoint are a farce,” Fesenko said, arguing that voting organized by Russian occupation authorities has no legitimate connection to democracy. European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigand called the vote in the occupied regions “another blatant violation of international law.” The European Union, he said, will not recognize either the elections or their results.