Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy enacted sanctions against 44 people said to have taken part in Russia’s State Duma elections held in Ukrainian territories under Russian control. The decree was signed on September 26.
The Ukrainian Presidential Press Service alleged that those on the list acted in Russia’s interests and supported the occupation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, the Crimean Peninsula and Sevastopol.
Names on the sanctions list
Kyiv said some of the sanctioned individuals had previously been elected as members of local councils established in areas under Russia’s control.
The list also included Irina Kuksenkova and former Ukrainian MP Yuri Onishchuk. The Ukrainian authorities maintain that Onishchuk cooperated with the Russian side after Melitopol came under the control of Russian forces.
Kyiv does not recognize the elections
Ukraine considers elections held in areas under Russia’s control illegitimate. According to Kyiv, neither the results of the voting nor the documents prepared during the electoral process have legal validity.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, the Ukrainian president’s adviser responsible for sanctions policy, said holding elections in these areas violated the rules of international humanitarian law.
Vlasiuk referred to United Nations General Assembly resolutions concerning Ukraine’s territorial integrity. His statement cited decisions adopted after the referendums held in 2014 to facilitate Crimea’s accession to Russia and in 2022 to facilitate the accession of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to Russia.
Vlasiuk said that elections, referendums or electoral districts could not change this status.
Information to be shared with international partners
The Ukrainian authorities will send the information they have gathered about the sanctioned individuals to international partners so that similar restrictions can be imposed within their jurisdictions.
The Office of the President of Ukraine said that elections held in Ukrainian territories under Russia’s control were not recognized by European Union countries, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, Canada or New Zealand.
Vlasiuk said that Ukraine’s sanctions, along with restrictions that its partners may impose in the future, constituted a legal assessment of the elections in question and the people who took part in them.
