Parliamentarians from 20 countries have made a statement on holding “elections” of the russian president in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. This was reported by the chairman of the Lithuanian parliamentary committee for foreign affairs, Žygimantas Pavilionis, on his Twitter account.
In a statement, the parliamentarians denied the legitimacy of such “elections”.
“Russia intends to extend these elections to the territories it occupied and illegally annexed in Ukraine, which looks like an attempt to legitimise its temporary occupation of Ukrainian territory,”- the statement said.
In total, the statement was signed by committee chairmen from 20 countries: Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Germany, Moldova, Poland, Israel, USA, Ireland, Italy, Iceland, Romania, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Spain and the UK.
“We strongly condemn Russia’s imperialist actions and its dragging aggression against Ukraine. We unequivocally reject the legitimacy of the elections being held by Russia in the occupied Ukrainian territories. Such actions of Russia on the internationally recognised territory of Ukraine are absolutely illegitimate and will not be recognised by the international community,” the statement reads.
The committee chairmen expressed solidarity with Ukraine and noted that holding the election during the 10th anniversary of the Crimean occupation was a provocation.
“Future presidential elections in Russia will be neither free nor fair, they will be marred by a comprehensive suppression of the opposition and independent media, as well as the complete absence of legitimate alternatives and international control, which will lead to results devoid of any semblance of democratic legitimacy,” – the MPs said.