At the April session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Ukrainian delegation will raise the issue of illegitimacy of the Russian presidential election in the occupied Crimea, First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, member of the Ukrainian delegation PACE Iryna Gerashchenko has said.

"A serious challenge for Ukraine is the election of the president of the Russian Federation, in fact, the election of President Putin [Russian President Vladimir Putin]. Russia boldly wants to hold these elections in the occupied Crimea, pursuing there a policy of forcible passportization of Ukrainian citizens, handing them Russian passports and forcing them to take part in the elections," Gerashchenko said in an interview with the parliamentary newspaper Holos Ukrainy (Voice of Ukraine) published on Tuesday.

According to her, the issue of illegitimacy of the Russian presidential election in the occupied Crimea should be one of the key issues that the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation should raise at all levels.

"And we will talk about this in the PACE at the April session, and at the parliamentary assemblies of NATO and the OSCE, which is a very serious issue that calls for serious attention to the occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which lasts for the fourth year," Gerashchenko said.