Russia's elections had few surprises - but how the Kremlin uses the results is far from clear

Image source, EPA Image caption, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently ruled out another wave of mobilisation for the Ukraine war

Many things about Russia are hard to predict.

The result of this election wasn't one of them.

In a political system tightly controlled by the Kremlin, the party of power – United Russia – had been widely expected to maintain its grip on parliament.

There was no upset. No surprises. No other party came close.

Preliminary results suggest that United Russia is on course to retain its constitutional majority in the State Duma.

And that's after more than four and a half years of war against Ukraine, which have resulted in huge battlefield losses for the Russian army, sparked economic hardship, as well as petrol shortages due to Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian oil facilities.