Russians who come to Russian diplomatic missions in Ukraine to vote may be expelled from Ukraine
According to Evropeyskaya Pravda’s article entitled “Voting with Deportation: How Kyiv Can Stop Russian Elections in Diplomatic Missions,” participating in elections to the State Duma on September 18th in the territory of Ukraine is illegal, which may result in expulsion from the country.
“The Security Service of Ukraine has two powerful tools to counter the elections. One is called ‘recognition of a citizen as a persona non grata’ and the other is ‘the expulsion of a foreign national,” which, actually, doesn’t need any formal explanations from Ukraine and can be applied to both asylum seekers from the Russian Federation and Russians who obtain work permits or Ukrainian residence permits,” the report stated.
According to the author of the article, Editor in Chief of Evropeyskaya Pravda, Serhiy Sydorenko, such a step will help Kyiv block the elections without blocking diplomatic missions themselves and violating the convention. “It’s enough to check documents and collect passport data of the Russian citizens who make their choice on their own between supporting the annexation and living in Ukraine,” he says.
The newspaper recalls that the voting itself is illegal from the standpoint of Kyiv, which is “beyond the question.” Ukraine also informed diplomats through a note from the Foreign Ministry and Russian citizens who would come to vote via media.
“These reports lack one critically important item: responsibility. [This applies] not only to the Kremlin but to anyone who helps to "legitimize the annexation,” Sydorenko explained.
As for Russian diplomats who are already in the territory of embassies and consulates, a way to influence them would be to declare persona non grata those members of diplomatic missions who ensure and organize voting. “Ukraine must finally take a decisive step and expel the diplomats who are responsible for the organization of the elections contrary to Ukrainian laws. At least [hold accountable] the chairperson and secretary of the electoral commissions, whose names are available on the website of the Central Electoral Commission of the Russian Federation,” the article reads.
The matter is not only about morality but also about violating the Criminal Code, namely Article 110, “infringement of the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine” which clearly explains that “deliberate acts carried out with a view to change the borders of the territory or state border of Ukraine In violation of the procedure established by the Constitution of Ukraine, and also public calls or dissemination of the materials with calls for carrying out such acts bear legal consequences of 5 years imprisonment with or without confiscation of property.”
“This article is "basic" for those accused of separatism. The article also concerns acts committed for "legalization" of the annexation of the Crimea,” the article stressed.
As previously reported, parliamentary elections will take place on September 18th in Russia. For the first time, parliamentarians from the annexed Crimea will be elected to the State Duma of the Russian Federation within the multi-mandate electoral district. Ukraine prohibited Russia from holding elections to the State Duma on its territory.
Earlier, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin stated that future elections to the State Duma of Russia will be fundamentally illegitimate. "I believe that elections in Russia are illegitimate because they take place in the territory of occupied Crimea. And these elections are illegitimate both in the political sense and in a legal sense,” Klimkin said during an interview with Echo of Moscow.