Ukraine denounces upcoming Russian election on occupied territory as ‘null and void’

Ukrainian officials publicly denounced an upcoming election conducted by Russia in Kremlin-occupied territories next spring, referring to the planned elections as “null and void.” 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine made its remarks on the matter in a statement Saturday. 

“Holding Russian elections on Ukrainian territories grossly violates the Constitution and legislation of Ukraine, the norms and principles of international law, in particular the UN Charter,” the ministry said in its statement. “Such an electoral process, like other similar propaganda activities in the past, will be null and void.” 

“Inclusion of the votes cast in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine will question the legitimacy of the overall result of the election of the president of the Russian Federation,” the statement added.

The ministry also called on its international partners to publicly condemn Russia’s intentions to hold elections in the occupied territories, and asked them “to impose sanctions on those involved in their organization and conduct.” 

“We also call on foreign countries not to send their citizens as observers to these pseudo-elections,” the statement reads. “Those who partake will face criminal responsibility in line with the Ukrainian legislation.” 

“Any election in Russia has nothing to do with democracy. They serve only as a tool to keep the Russian regime in power.”

The ministry’s remarks comes as a response to Russia’s decision to hold elections in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions in Spring 2024, according to The Associated Press. Russia illegally annexed the four territories in September 2022, eight months into its war with the sovereign country. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently announced his intentions to run for reelection, as Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny predicted that the upcoming elections would be falsified and pushed for voters to oppose Putin.

“For Putin, the 2024 elections are a referendum to approve his actions, to approve the war,” Navalny said in an online statement, adding the country “no longer needs” Putin as a leader.

“Let’s disrupt his plans and make it happen so that no one on March 17 is interested in the rigged result, but that all of Russia saw and understood: the will of the majority is that Putin must leave.”