The presidential elections, slammed by EU and NATO as neither free nor fair, began in Russia on Friday, March 15, and will continue throughout the weekend till the evening hours of Sunday, March 17. The Russian voting polls are also set up in occupied Crimea and in some of the other occupied regions of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian authorities are calling on their citizens in the occupied territories not to take part in the Russian elections. However, as Vereshchuk pointed out, Ukrainians are often forced to do this: "The Russians are doing everything in their power to make the Ukrainian people accept Russian passports - and then to go and vote, to take part in this farce" - Ukraine's Deputy PM said.
"They are forcing people to directly participate in the pseudo-elections, but also to serve them - for example by going house to house with the ballot boxes. This way Putin is trying to legitimize the occupation of these Ukrainian territories" - Vereshchuk continued.
The Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that some Ukrainian citizens are trying to escape from the occupied territories - fleeing not only the current repressions, but also the forced conscription into the Russian army:
"We have our own data on this, but adequate information was also provided to us by the intelligence services of partner countries: Russia wants to announce total mobilization soon after the elections. I know that people in the occupied territories are aware of this - and are trying to escape to avoid being forcefully drafted" - Minister Iryna Vereshchuk explained.
To conclude, Ukraine's Deputy PM stressed that the world cannot recognize the legality of Russian elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine - and that it should not recognize the legality of Vladimir Putin's power either.
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Source: IAR