Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree imposing sanctions on 44 individuals involved in holding illegal "elections" in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine (TOIT), the President's Office’s press service reported.
“President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree enacting a decision by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine to impose sanctions on individuals involved in holding illegal ‘elections’ to the Russian State Duma in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory,” the message posted on the Presidential website on Saturday reads.
The sanction package targets 44 individuals acting in Russia’s interests and facilitating the temporary occupation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia regions, as well as Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
Some of them have already been “elected” as so-called deputies of illegally established local councils in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory. The list also includes other criminals and accomplices of the aggressor state. They include propagandist and accomplice of the occupiers Irina Kuksenkova and former Ukrainian lawmaker Iurii Onishchuk, who began cooperating with the Russians after the occupation of Melitopol.
Ukraine stresses that these “elections” are illegitimate. The results of such voting, as well as any documents issued as part of these “elections,” have no legal basis whatsoever. They constitute a gross violation of international law and its fundamental principles.
