Deportation and coercion How Russia stamps rule on occupied Ukraine

Early voting in Russia’s presidential election had already begun last week in occupied areas of Ukraine, with officials carrying ballot boxes going house to house in some areas, accompanied by soldiers.

- Shaun Walker

With critics and opponents silenced, exiled or murdered, Vladimir Putin is expected to be anointed for another six years when the polls close on 17 March . The four partially– occupied Ukrainian regions, claimed by Putin as Russian territory in 2022, will have a special part to play .

The picture that Russian television will paint is almost as predictable as the final result: carefully curated images of grateful Ukrainians, delighted to be brought under Russian rule.

The narrative will also be specially curated for an audience of one – Putin– said a senior Ukrainian security official: “Most of all, the results will be about the elites demonstrating to the star that the people in his new territories really do love him.”

The real story is very different, as shown by a Guardian investigation into life in one of the four areas partially annexed by Russia in 2022 : the Zaporizhzhia region.