The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has called on members of the CIS observer mission for the Russian State Duma elections not to visit the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
"In the start of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) observer mission to monitor the upcoming elections to Russian State Duma, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine warns mission members against visiting the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation and against participating in the monitoring of the voting illegally organized there," the ministry said in the statement regarding the start of the mission's work, released on Thursday.
The MFA said Russia's extension of the electoral process to the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine "constitutes yet another gross violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the norms of international law."
"Any voting organized by Russia on the sovereign territory of Ukraine is illegal, and the results of such voting are null and void and have no legal consequences. The presence of foreign observers does not alter the illegal nature of such a vote and cannot serve as a basis for recognizing its results. Instead, Russia is attempting to use the international presence in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to legitimize the results of an illegally organized electoral process, the occupation, and the attempted annexation of Ukrainian territories," the statement reads.
Ukraine calls on CIS member states to strictly adhere to the norms of international law, respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, refrain from any actions that Russia might use to legitimize the occupation, and not to recognize any results of the illegal voting in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
