The Permanent Representative of Ukraine to international organizations announced it in Vienna Yevhen Tsymbalyuk at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, Ukrinform reports.

He recalled the pseudo-referendum in occupied Crimea in 2014.

“Moscow has long used electoral procedures to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states and undermine their territorial integrity. The list is long, starting with the fake referendum in Crimea in 2014 and ending with the vote to amend the Constitution in 2020. The last elections to the State Duma of Russia are no exception”, - Tsymbalyuk said.

Read also: The Verkhovna Rada does not recognize the new State Duma and elections to it.

According to him, the involvement of residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as Georgia and Moldova, in the elections in the Russian Federation, constitutes a gross violation of the basic norms of international law and Russia's commitments within the OSCE, including the Helsinki Final Act.

“This also applies to the fact of holding such so-called elections in the territories under the illegal Russian occupation. This significantly distorts the election results and casts doubt on the legitimacy of the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in general”, - the head of the Ukrainian mission to the OSCE said.

He stressed that forcing Ukrainian citizens who were illegally issued Russian passports to vote in elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation is another aggressive act of the Russian Federation against the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

“The results of these elections are legally void. We call on the participating states to refrain from contacts with illegally elected representatives of the occupying state, not to allow them to be included in Russian delegations to parliamentary assemblies, and also to bring to justice those responsible for preparing the elections. The holding of illegal elections is a step backward in the implementation of the Minsk agreements by Russia as a party to the conflict”, - Tsymbalyuk concluded.

Read more: Illegal elections in occupied Crimea: what sanctions are expected for the participants, expert comments

What is known

• Germany does not recognize the Russian elections in occupied Crimea and condemns the vote in ORDLO.
• Georgia does not recognize the Russian elections to the State Duma in occupied Crimea.
• The United States and Great Britain do not recognize the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in occupied Crimea.
• Turkey and Poland do not recognize the Russian elections to the State Duma in Crimea.
• The SBU has opened criminal proceedings over the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, which took place in occupied Crimea.
• European Commission spokesperson Peter Stano said that the elections in Russia were held with numerous violations, and the European Union never recognizes their results in occupied Crimea.
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called "marginal" European politicians, who came to observe the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in occupied Crimea.
• Russian media reported that the European Parliament was allegedly pressuring international observers who had come to the occupied peninsula to observe the election.
• On September 19, the State Duma elections ended in Russia. According to the results of 90% of the protocols, Putin's party (49.66%) has won the elections.
• On September 17, elections to the State Duma started in Russia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested and condemned Russia's organization and holding of parliamentary elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea.