Putin tells United Russia party its duty is to defeat the West at pre-election congress

Vladimir Putin addressed the pre-election congress of the United Russia party in Moscow, calling on it to do everything to defeat the West. The party, for the first time since 2007, declared itself the 'party of the president', Novaya Gazeta Europe reported.

Putin's speech lasted 17 minutes, compared to an hour in 2021, the independent outlet Agentstvo calculated. The president said that 'Russia is experiencing unprecedented pressure from Western elites' and that Ukraine, in his words, 'has switched to terrorist actions' while retreating along the entire front line.

Putin called it the duty of United Russia 'to do everything for victory' over the West, Agentstvo reported. According to the outlet, this may mean that the conflict with the West will become the key event of the next five years — the term for which the new State Duma is elected.

The president also promised that the elections will be held 'on schedule and in strict accordance with the law' and that the contest will be 'open and honest', Novaya Gazeta Europe wrote. Putin urged United Russia members to 'spend less time in offices and messengers' and to meet with people more often, The Bell noted. The president himself has gone out to meet people only once since the start of the year, accompanied by fighters in camouflage, the outlet specified, citing Agentstvo.

Contrary to expectations, the party's chairman Dmitry Medvedev did not make it into the top five of United Russia's election list, The Bell reported. The party will be led into the elections by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny, children's ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova, and head of the main staff of the Yunarmiya youth military-patriotic movement Vladislav Golovin. Medvedev himself read their names from the stage.

At the congress, Medvedev also said that 480 participants in the war in Ukraine would run for the party in the elections, Agentstvo reported. In total, 22,000 people registered for United Russia's primaries, of whom 1,300 are war participants.