The European Union (EU) has not recognized the holding or results of the Russian presidential elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine, and has warned of consequences for its organizers.
“The EU reiterates that does not and will never recognize either the holding of the so-called ‘elections’ in the territories of Ukraine or their results. They are void and cannot produce any legal effect.”has assured the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security, Josep Borrellin a statement on behalf of the Twenty-Seven.
Borrell added that Russian political leaders and those who participated in their organization “will have to face the consequences of these illegal actions.”
In the EU’s view, the presidential elections held by Russia from March 15 to 17 took place “in a highly restricted environment, also exacerbated by Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.”
“Russian authorities have continued to increase systematic internal repression by taking action against opposition politicians, civil society organizations, independent media and other critical voices through the use of repressive legislation 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 possibility of choice”
For the EU, the elections, in which the president, Vladimir Putin, once again triumphed, were held “in an increasingly reduced political space, which has translated into an alarming increase in violations of civil and political rights,” and in which many candidates were prevented from running, including all those who opposed Russia’s illegal war of aggression.
In this context, Russian voters were “deprived of a real possibility of choice” and “their access to accurate information was greatly limited.”
The EU has also regretted the decision of the Russian authorities not to invite observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to their electionswhich he considered “contrary to the commitments made by Russia with the OSCE” and which “has deprived Russian voters and institutions of an impartial and independent evaluation” of the elections.
On the other hand, upon his arrival today at a Council of Foreign Ministers of the Union, Borrell declared before the press that he hopes today for a political agreement to promote sanctions in relation to the death of Navalni in an Arctic prison.
He has also hoped that the ministers will officially approve the assistance fund for Ukraine included in the European Peace Support Fund (FEAP) with 5,000 million euros for this year, with a view to “increasing our military support to Ukraine, which is very needy.”
Furthermore, the high representative has expressed hope in obtaining “definitively a political agreement from the ministers” to use the extraordinary profits generated by Russian assets frozen due to sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine.
“I hope that a political decision is finally made,” he said, facing “increase our ability to finance the defense of Ukraine; I hope that a political agreement on this will be reached today,” she concluded.
