Euro Council rejects Russia's sham election in occupied Ukrainian territories

In the document released today, March 22nd, conclusions of the European Council, adopted at a two-day summit in Brussels, were presented, particularly regarding the situation in Ukraine and the ongoing Russian aggression.

In the resolution, point #8 concerned the EU's position on the Kremlin-organized fake election in the occupied territories of Ukraine. It also addressed the abduction of children practiced by Russian occupiers.

"The European Council strongly condemns Russia’s continuous human rights violations in the occupied Ukrainian territories, including the deportation of children. It firmly rejects and will never recognise the illegal so-called ‘elections’ organised by Russia in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories of Crimea, Sevastopol, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, nor their results," the document states.

Furthermore, EU leaders emphasize the importance of holding Russia accountable for its crimes of aggression against Ukraine and compensating for damages caused by the large-scale war. The European Council has supported the establishment of a tribunal to receive "the broadest cross-regional support and legitimacy, and a future compensation mechanism."

Russian election in the occupied territories of Ukraine

The presidential election was held in the Russian Federation over three days from March 15 to March 17, 2024. The Kremlin also organized such voting in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

According to Vadym Skibitskyi, a representative of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the results of the election were already known in the Kremlin in advance.

More details on the pseudo-elections in the occupation can be found in the RBC-Ukraine material "Elections at gunpoint: How Russians force Ukrainians in occupied territories to vote for Putin."

According to the election results, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin allegedly received 87.8% of the vote.