The United Nations (UN) expressed “concern” on Friday over reports that Russia is holding elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine, stressing that the vote “has no legal basis.”
The UN position was presented by the Deputy Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, Miroslav Jenca, during a Security Council meeting scheduled to discuss the situation on Ukrainian territory, namely the local elections that Russia held in the regions of Donetsk. , Luhansk, Zaporijia and Kherson.
“We are concerned about reports that the Russian Federation is holding so-called elections in areas of Ukraine currently under Russian military control. These so-called elections in occupied territories of Ukraine have no legal basis.”said the UN representative.
Jenca also quoted UN Secretary General António Guterres, who stated that “any annexation of the territory of a State by another State resulting from the threat or use of force is a violation of the principles of the Charter. [das Nações Unidas] and international law”.
“I would like to reiterate that the United Nations remains fully committed to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, and extending to its territorial waters,” the Deputy Secretary General stressed.
Russia will elect 21 governors and 20 regional parliaments on Sunday, in a vote that has already begun in some parts of the country, including Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Moscow expanded this year’s vote to the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporijia, which were annexed in September 2022, despite the ongoing war and the fact that Moscow’s armed forces do not fully control them.
“Unfortunately (…) these latest illegal attempts to launch new so-called electoral processes in the occupied territories of Ukraine further undermine the prospects for peace,” Miroslav Jenca stressed.
During the Security Council meeting convened by Albania and the United States, several countries rejected the legality and legitimacy of these elections, claiming that the results were already “predetermined”.
“We have information that the Kremlin (Russian presidency) predetermined the results of sham elections in the Ukrainian sovereign territory that Russia temporarily controls,” British Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward said.
“The Kremlin is using these bogus referenda and elections to give an appearance of legitimacy to its efforts to illegally annex the sovereign territory of its neighbors. (…) The Kremlin knows very well that its elections in Ukraine are a total fraud.”said North American Ambassador Robert Wood.
The diplomat also denounced that armed Russian soldiers “provide so-called ‘security’ to voters, in an intimidating combination of bullets and votes.”
France’s permanent representative to the UN, Nicolas de Rivière, warned that “no country can consider itself safe” if Russia is allowed to continue with these types of actions.
“It is therefore imperative that every Member of the United Nations clearly and unequivocally rejects these sham elections and upholds the Charter of the United Nations and its universal principles,” he said.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya, also took part in the meeting, where he stressed that the election results in question “will be null and void and cannot have legal effects under international law.”
“We call on the international community to condemn the use of the Russian electoral system on the territory of another state. We also urge them not to recognize the so-called results of these bogus elections,” he further stressed.
Source: DN
