India, Sept. 19 -- Russians on Friday began three days of voting in the country's first wartime parliamentary election, which features virtually no opposition and is all but certain to secure the Kremlin's political dominance.

Authorities spread the election over the weekend, ending Sunday, in a bid to boost turnout among the 111 million eligible voters, and they even allowed electronic balloting. Turnout was about 30 per cent as of late Friday, including online voting, according to the Central Election Commission.

The Kremlin wants the parliamentary election -- the first since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 -- to underline public support for the war and give a veneer of legitimacy to its action. It has sought t...