'Null and void': Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on Russia's plans of presidential elections in occupation

"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. Such an electoral process, like other similar propaganda activities in the past, will be null and void," states the press service message.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that the inclusion of votes received in the temporarily occupied territories will call into question the legitimacy of the entire result of the Russian presidential election.

In particular, the Ministry requests to:

• the international community to strongly condemn the intention of the terrorist country to hold elections in the temporarily occupied territories;
• impose sanctions on those involved in organizing and conducting the elections;
• foreign countries not to send their citizens as observers to the pseudo-elections. Criminal liability is envisaged for those who participate.

"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 writes.

Presidential elections in Russia

Yesterday, on December 8, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin announced his intention to run for re-election for the fifth time, having made a promise to the speaker of the so-called "DPR parliament." As Reuters previously reported, a repeat "victory" in the election will allow the dictator to remain in power until at least 2030.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has already stated that the dictator will be re-elected for another term with more than 90% of the vote.

According to the decision of the Russian CEC, the presidential election in Russia will last three days for the first time - from March 15 to 17.