In yet another cynical attempt to legitimize its attempted annexation of Ukrainian territories, Russia’s government again held sham elections there. Although most Russians went to the polls between March 15 and 17, early voting in occupied Ukraine began on February 27. Those citizens of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Crimea who were not tempted to attend the polls by free food, musical performances and carnival atmosphere laid on by local election commissions, were visited by a local official holding a list of voters, another holding a ballot box, and an armed soldier.
“Let’s call this what this is,” said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
“It’s a blatant propaganda exercise, undertaken in the hopes of somehow strengthening Russia’s false claim to the parts of Ukraine it illegally invaded.”
“To hold Russian elections in Ukraine’s sovereign territory is proof of the tie between the Kremlin’s external aggression and internal repression,” said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield. “It is an affront to the UN Charter principles that underpin global security and stability.”
“Two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and 10 since its initial invasion of Crimea, we must continue to defend Ukraine’s sovereignty,” she said. “Holding elections in another sovereign UN Member State’s territory without its consent is in manifest disregard for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
“Any country that purports to defend these principles must not be silent now,” said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield.
“The United States will never recognize the Russian Federation’s claim to any of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. And we unequivocally condemn Russia’s continued occupation of part of Ukraine. … We call on the international community to join us in imposing costs on those responsible for organizing and holding these sham elections in Russia-occupied parts of Ukraine.”
“It is critical,” said Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, “that we continue to stand together in support of the UN Charter, and against Russia’s territorial ambitions and efforts to redraw borders by force; that we continue to call for accountability for the atrocities and the abuses committed by Russian officials in Ukraine; that we continue to seek justice for victims, not only as a moral imperative, but a strategic one, furthering deterrence and respect for the rule of law in the future and that we continue to condemn this sham election in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territory for what it is: One in a pattern of failed attempts to justify the unjustifiable.”
