The EU reacted to the Russian Federation’s “elections” in the occupied territories of Ukraine

The European Union has said it does not recognize the Russian “elections” to the State Duma held in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. The EU has also promised sanctions against those involved in their organization.

This is stated in a statement by the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaia Kallas, on behalf of the European Union.

The EU stressed that the Russian “elections” cannot have any legal force on the territory of Ukraine. This includes temporarily occupied Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson regions.

The European Union called the organization of voting in these territories another violation of international law, the UN Charter, as well as the independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

The statement emphasizes that the EU does not and will not recognize either the holding of such “elections” or their results.

In addition, the European Union announced future sanctions against individuals who were involved in organizing voting in the occupied territories or who ran as candidates there.

Sanctions may also apply to individuals responsible for undermining the possibility of holding free and fair elections in Russia itself.

The EU separately noted that the State Duma elections on September 18-20 took place against the backdrop of further strengthening of authoritarian tendencies and repression of the opposition in Russia. The statement mentions, in particular, the non-admission of candidates from the Yabluko party to participate in the elections on the federal list.

The European Union also criticized Russia’s decision not to invite OSCE observers, saying it deprived voters of the opportunity to obtain an independent assessment of the election process.

Recall that Ukraine previously called for the non-recognition of the vote organized by Russia in the temporarily occupied territories .

In addition, after counting the majority of votes in the State Duma elections, United Russia gained almost 58% .

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