Council of Europe condemns illegal 'elections' in Ukraine's occupied territories

This is stated on the Council of Europe website.

The joint statement by the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe Krisjanis Karinš, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Tiny Kox and Secretary General of the Council of Europe Marija Pejčinović Burić states that Russia has once again demonstrated indifference to the values of democracy and human rights.

"We strongly condemn the illegitimate sham "elections" that took place on 8-10 September 2023 in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation. Held in flagrant violation of international law, they consitute a further illustration of the denial by the Russian Federation of the values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law upheld by the Council of Europe," the statement said.

"We reaffirm our unwavering support for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its international recognised borders," the Council of Europe added.

Information available regarding “election” in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories

On 30 September 2022, Russian President Putin, based on the results of the so-called referendum in the TOT, signed "agreements" on the "accession" of the self-proclaimed LPR and DPR, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to Russia.

On 2 October 2022, he submitted a bill to the State Duma on the "accession to the Russian Federation" of four regions of Ukraine.

On 5 October last year, Putin signed the "laws" on the so-called accession of four regions of Ukraine to Russia. He also appointed Denis Pushilin as "acting head of the DPR" and Leonid Pasichnyk as "acting head of the LPR". Volodymyr Saldo became the "governor" of Kherson region, and Yevhen Balytskyi was appointed the "governor" of Zaporizhzhia.

The "elections" in the TOT were scheduled for 10 September 2023, but preparations for them began much earlier.

On 4 September, the National Resistance Centre stated that Russian enemy in the temporarily occupied territories could not find a sufficient number of "public observers" among the locals for the so-called elections, so they invited them from Russia.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said that among the candidates for representative pseudo-bodies in the temporarily occupied territories are Russian military personnel who took part in the invasion of Ukraine, where they killed and tortured people.

British intelligence has predicted the results of the "elections" in the TOT of Ukraine: the United Russia party is likely to win the most votes.  

On 7 September, Yuriy Sobolevsky, first deputy head of the Kherson regional council, said that the occupation authorities had already predicted a 15% turnout of the local population for the 'elections'.

On 8 September, Ukraine called on international partners to impose sanctions against the organisers of pseudo-elections in the temporarily occupied territories

On 8 September, the UN Security Council discussed Russia's attempts to organise local pseudo-elections in the occupied territories. Kyslytsia called for tough sanctions

On the temporarily occupied territories of the Zaporizhzhia region, explosions were heard for two days in a row near the "polling stations.” Activists deliberately spoiled ballots to show their attitude to the Russian-appointed "authorities.”