Klimkin: Russian elections in Crimea are illegal
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin stated that he considers the holding of elections by Russia in the occupied Crimea to be illegitimate as well as unsafe.
“I think that elections in Russia are illegitimate because they take place in the territory of the occupied Crimea. Moreover, they aren’t legitimate either politically or legally,” Klimkin stated in his interview on Ekho Moskvy radio.
In response to a question on security at polling sites in Ukraine during the State Duma elections, Klimkin said there is no guarantee that within the context of Russian aggression against Ukraine the same would not happen in Ukrainian diplomatic missions.
According to him, this situation will be examined when the possibility of organizing polling stations in Ukraine is considered. Klimkin hasn’t excluded the possibility of a visa regime for Russian citizens. “Against the background of the occupation of the Crimea and the Donbas, the introduction of a visa regime isn’t, in my view, a crazy step,” the Minister said.
Recently, polling stations in Kyiv, Lviv, Odessa and Kharkiv were organized for Russian voting in State Duma (Russian Parliament) elections that will take place on the 18th of September. According to Vasily Likhachyov, a member of the Russian Central Election Commission, the issue of security at these polling stations has yet to be resolved.
Currently, more than 81,000 Russians who have the right to vote in the State Duma elections are in the consular register in Ukraine.