Ukraine doesn't recognize Putin as legitimate Russian president, calls on world to do same

The Foreign Ministry's press service reported.

The agency reminded that on May 7, Russia will host the inauguration ceremony of Vladimir Putin.

"In this way, the Russian authorities are trying to create for the whole world and its citizens the illusion of the legitimacy of the almost lifelong stay in power of the man who turned Russia into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship," the statement says.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry noted that during the March pseudo-elections, Russia violated the UN Charter, the Declaration on the Principles of International Law, the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, and other international documents. Russia used blackmail and threats to force residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to vote for Putin.

"Such actions of the Russian Federation, despite warnings from reputable international institutions, once again prove that its leadership does not recognize its responsibility and is not going to stop the illegal, unprovoked and unjustified full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine, which has been going on for more than two years and has caused numerous human casualties and destruction. By resorting to propaganda and manipulation, the Kremlin regime is using voter participation and voting results to justify its military invasion of Ukraine and aggressive policy towards other states," the Foreign Ministry emphasized.

"Based on the above, as well as taking into account the current warrant of the International Criminal Court for the arrest of Vladimir Putin, Ukraine sees no legal grounds for recognizing him as a democratically elected and legitimate president of the Russian Federation," they added.

• According to the Russian Central Election Commission, Putin was re-elected for another term with 87.28% of support. At the same time, "elections" were also held in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories and in unrecognized Transnistria. A number of EU countries have stated that they do not consider the fake vote to be an election.
• On April 17, the PACE adopted a resolution calling for not recognizing Putin as the legitimate president of the Russian Federation.