Ukraine condemns Russian presidential election bid in occupied territory

Ukraine on Saturday strongly condemned Russia's plans to hold presidential elections on occupied Ukrainian territory in the spring.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry called the planned elections null and void and promised that any international observers sent to monitor them would be held criminally liable.

Lawmakers in Russia on Thursday set the 2024 presidential election for March 17.

Russian President Vladimir Putin decided on Friday to extend his repressive and unyielding grip on Russia for another six years by announcing his candidacy for the elections. He will almost certainly win.

Russian authorities plan to organize votes in the areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson that Moscow illegally annexed from Ukraine in September last year but does not have full control along with the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014 has annexed.

The presidential election announcement follows local elections for a Russian-installed parliament in occupied parts of Ukraine in September. The votes were denounced as a sham by Kiev and the West.

We call on the international community to firmly condemn Russia's intention to hold presidential elections in the occupied Ukrainian territories and to impose sanctions on those involved in its organization and conduct, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.