Those who will be elected to Russian Duma in Crimea are actually buying sanctions club membership tickets - Poroshenko

12:20, 16.09.2016 1 min read

The reaction to the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the occupied Crimea should be sanctions, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko considers.

"Those who will be elected to the Russian Duma in Crimea are actually buying a membership ticket to the sanctions club," Poroshenko said, opening the 13th annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) in Kyiv on Friday morning.

The head of state expressed confidence that not individuals but the entire regime should be responsible for Russia's crimes against Ukrainian citizens.

"Moscow must understand that the price of such violations will only be growing. We are holding appropriate consultations with our partners. And one of the reasons for sanctions should be the so called Russian parliamentary elections held in the territory of Ukraine," Poroshenko said.

The president stressed Ukraine does not recognize the legitimacy of Russian elections in the occupied territory.