Ukraine condemns the Russian presidential elections planned in the occupied territories

Ukraine’s foreign ministry called the planned election null and void and vowed that any international observers sent to observe the election would be “criminally liable.”

Russian lawmakers on Thursday decided that the country’s presidential election will be held on March 17, 2024.

Russian President Vladimir Putin moved on Friday to extend his repressive and unyielding rule of Russia for at least another six years, announcing he will run in an election he almost certainly will win.

Russian authorities plan to hold votes in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, territories that Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine last September but do not fully control, as well as the Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

The presidential election was announced after September’s local elections to the Russian-founded legislative bodies in the occupied parts of Ukraine. Kyiv and the West condemned the vote as rigged.

“We call on the international community to resolutely condemn Russia’s intention to hold presidential elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine and to impose sanctions on individuals involved in their organization and implementation,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.