Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to militarize Russian society and shift responsibility for the war in Ukraine onto the deputies of the Russian State Duma and the Russian population.
Putin has emphasized the role of State Duma deputies and ordinary citizens in Russia's military actions, in order to deflect personal responsibility for the ongoing costly war and present them as fully supporting his decisions on the eve of the State Duma elections in September 2026.
This was commented on by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
On July 26, on the occasion of the Day of the Russian Navy, Putin gave a speech in which he strongly emphasized the importance of Russia's national unity around the military actions in Ukraine.
Putin said that Russia must "to inspire awareness" of its civil society with the importance of the war and to preserve this sense of national unity even after the war ends.
Putin stressed that there is nothing more important at the moment than the Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
Putin also stated that Russian volunteers are ready to help the Russian army and are worried that the Russian forces will no longer need their help in peacetime — an attempt to portray the Russian population as willing to continue the war and make the necessary sacrifices to achieve victory in Ukraine.
On July 27, Putin held a meeting with deputies of the Russian State Duma, during which he emphasized the unity of the Russian government around the war effort and stated that over the past five years (since 2021) the State Duma had adopted a total of nearly 3,000 bills, two-thirds of which were adopted with the support of all factions, with the aim of supporting the Russian forces, defense enterprises, society and the domestic economy during the war.
Putin noted that the State Duma deputies collectively adopted laws on the accession to Russia of the illegally occupied Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.
Putin is continuing his efforts to convince personnel mobilized in 2022 to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense (MOD) and continue to is fighting in Russia's war against Ukraine.
ISW has previously noted reports that Russian military authorities are incentivizing and forcing mobilized servicemen to sign contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The Kremlin is likely to continue to promote narratives and take measures aimed at retaining mobilized personnel in the Russian armed forces, as well as alleviating some public concerns about the lack of demobilization for personnel mobilized in 2022.