The Kremlin Has Put Lots of Veterans on the Ballot. Could It Backfire? NYT - World By: Valerie Hopkins 19 September 2026 at 09:02 President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has said veterans are the βnew elite,β but selecting them as candidates is a risk. Β© Nanna Heitmann for The New York TimesKonstantin N. Rizhak, third from right, this month in Moscow. He fought in Ukraine from October 2022 until July 2023 and is a candidate for the nationalist, socially conservative A Just Russia Party.