2023-09-08 22:59:00
Russia holds elections in occupied Ukraine. / Photo: AFP.
Russia started elections in ukrainian provinces which it has occupied since the invasion and in the annexed Crimean peninsula, in an attempt to reinforce its control over territories that it does not yet fully control, amid complaints from Ukraine and criticism from Western powers.
Voting will take place until Sunday in the four provinces that Russia took over in September 2022, Donetsk and Lugansk, in the Donbass region, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where the largest nuclear power plant in Europe is located, and in Crimea, annexed in 2014.
“Russia’s pseudo-elections in the temporarily occupied territories have no value,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, in which He called on his allies to “condemn” these “arbitrary and useless actions” by Russia.
Russia maintains an occupation of almost 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula, almost all of Lugansk and a part of Donetsk.
Ukraine called for senior Russian officials who organized the vote to be tried and sanctioned.
“People related to these pseudo-elections, including the leaders of the Russian Federation, representatives of the occupation administrations and electoral structures, must be brought to justice,” denounced the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
Germany also echoed the electionswhich considered that “they are nothing more than an obvious act of propaganda,” according to the German Foreign Ministry, the AFP news agency reported.
Photo: AFP.
Days ago, the Council of Europe, the continent’s main human rights body, had stated that the election “constitutes a flagrant violation of international law, which Russia continues to ignore.”
The vast majority of the international community does not recognize the annexations of Ukrainian territories. Currently, Russia maintains an occupation of almost 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula, almost all of Lugansk and a part of Donetsk, in the east, and areas of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, in the south.
Voters expected to elect regional legislatureswho in turn will appoint regional governors, and in Donetsk and Luhansk provinces thousands of candidates are also competing for seats in dozens of local councils.
In occupied provinces, early voting began last week as election officials went door-to-door or set up makeshift polling stations in public places to attract passers-by, local news portals reported.
Germany echoed the elections: “They are nothing more than an obvious act of propaganda”
The main contender in the election is United Russia, the Putin-loyal party that dominates Russian politics, although other parties, such as the Communist Party and the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, are also on the ballot.
For some residents of Donetsk and Lugansk provinces, which have been in the hands of pro-Russian separatists since 2014, there is nothing unusual about the vote, but The situation is different in Kherson and Zaporizhzhiawhere Ukrainian residents and activists say election workers make home visits accompanied by armed soldiers and claim to know little about the candidates.
In the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia, where the efforts of the Ukrainian counteroffensive are concentrated, the authorities installed in Moscow declared a holiday for this Friday’s vote.
Photo: AFP.
The Russian authorities intend for up to 80% of the population to participate in early voting, according to the Eastern Human Rights Group, a Ukrainian human rights group monitoring the election in the occupied territories.
Those who obtained Russian citizenship can vote as well as those who still have a Ukrainian passport. Those who refuse to vote are detained for three or four hours, said the human rights group, which reported at least 104 cases of detained Ukrainians.
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