Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns the decision of the Russian occupation administration to hold the elections of the President of the Russian Federation on the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol on 18 March 2018 .

Organizing and holding the illegal voting on the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol represents another step forward by the Kremlin in its strategy to legitimize the consequences of its aggression against Ukraine. It is a blatant violation of the fundamental norms and principles of the international law, Russia’s obligations under the international agreements between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian national legislation, as well as against the UN Charter, UN General Assembly resolutions A/RES/68/262 "Territorial Integrity of Ukraine" of 27 March 2014, A/RES/71/205 "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)" of 19 December 2016, and A/RES/72/190 "Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)" of 19 December 2017, and the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe of 1 August 1975.

The election results will be null and void, have no legal consequences, and will not be recognized by either Ukraine, or the international community. All persons involved in the organization and holding of the illegal election in the temporarily occupied Crimea will bear responsibility according to the legislation of Ukraine.

Ukraine welcomes the decision of the OSCE/ODIHR and other international partners not to participate in the observation of the illegal elections on the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol. We expect the final report by the international observation mission at the election of the President of Russia to clearly state the illegality of the elections on the occupied territory of Crimea.

We are convinced that an appropriate answer of the international community to Moscow’s new attempt to undermine basic principles of global order – sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders – needs to be tougher pressure of sanctions against the aggressor-state, including those targeting individuals.

We call on all our partners to strongly condemn the illegal elections on the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and not to recognize their “results”.

Ukraine reiterates its definitive demand to the Russian Federation to stop military aggression against our state, and de-occupy Ukraine’s territories that Russia had seized, by withdrawing Russia's forces.