The European Union (EU) has not recognized the conduct or results of the Russian presidential elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine and warned of consequences for its organizers.
“The EU confirms this does not and never will recognize the holding of the so-called “elections” on the territory of Ukraine nor their results. They are invalid and cannot have any legal effect.”has assured the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security that Josep Borrellin a statement on behalf of the Twenty-Seven.
Borrell added that Russian political leaders and those who participated in their organization “will face the consequences of these illegal actions.”
According to the EU, the presidential elections held by Russia from March 15 to 17 “took place in an extremely restricted environment, also exacerbated by Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.”
“Russian authorities have further increased systematic internal repression by targeting opposition politicians, civil society organizations, independent media and other critical voices with repressive laws and politically motivated prison sentences,” he said.
Borrell assured that “the shocking death of the opposition politician”. Alexei Navalny on the eve of the elections is another example of the acceleration of systematic repression.”
Russian voters were “deprived of a real choice.”
For the EU, the elections, in which President Vladimir Putin triumphed again, “took place in an increasingly narrow political space, which has led to a worrying increase in violations of civil and political rights,” and in which many candidates were present Candidacy prevented, including all those who opposed Russia’s illegal war of aggression.
In this context, Russian voters were “deprived of a real choice” and “their access to accurate information was severely limited.”
The EU also regretted it the decision by the Russian authorities not to invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to their electionswhich, in his view, “contradicts the commitments made by Russia to the OSCE” and “deprived Russian voters and institutions of an impartial and independent assessment” of the elections.
On the other hand, upon his arrival today at the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Union, Borrell told the press that he expected today a political agreement to promote sanctions related to the death of Navalni in an Arctic prison.
He also hoped that ministers would formally approve the 5 billion euros aid fund for Ukraine contained in the European Peace Fund (FEAP) for this year to “increase our military support to very needy Ukraine.” “
In addition, the High Representative expressed the hope of “finally reaching a political agreement among ministers” on the use of the extraordinary profits from Russian assets frozen due to sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.
“I hope that a political decision will finally be made,” he said, referring to “increase our ability to finance Ukraine’s defense; “I hope that a political agreement will be reached on this today,” he concluded.