said...
These Russian elections starkly underline the depth of repression
under President Putin’s regime, which seeks to silence any
opposition to his illegal war.
Putin removes his political opponents, controls the media, and
then crowns himself the winner. This is not democracy.
Russia failed to uphold its commitments to OSCE principles
guaranteeing that the will of the people would be expressed
freely and fairly. We have seen widespread reports of electoral
violations. Independent OSCE observers were not invited.
Any candidate who expressed anti-war views was swiftly
disqualified. With only three Kremlin-approved challengers, the
outcome of this election was never in any doubt.
The death of Alexei Navalny just weeks before the election was a
tragic reminder of the severity of political repression in Russia
today. Russia must immediately release all political prisoners,
including dual-national Vladimir Kara-Murza.
Holding elections on Ukrainian territory – as Russia did in
Crimea, Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia – is an
abhorrent violation of the UN Charter and Ukrainian sovereignty.
These regions will always be Ukrainian; holding Russia’s
presidential elections in these regions does not alter this fact.
The UK continues to stand with Ukraine.
Russia must uphold the commitments it freely signed up to and end
aggression beyond its borders and repression within them.
