European Parliament urges member states not to consider Putin's sham elections legitimate

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution condemning the manner in which Vladimir Putin's sham re-election was conducted and calling for those elections not to be declared legitimate.

In the resolution resolution on 25 April by 493 votes, MEPs call the sham elections a "farce" and urge EU member states and the international community not to recognise the results of the Russian sham election, as they were held, among other things, in the occupied territories of Ukraine, and were neither free nor fair in Russia.

MEPs stressed that the sole purpose of this imitation of the expression of will was to legitimise Putin's continued power, internal repression and war against Ukraine.

The Parliament expressed regret that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had deviated from the EU's common line and congratulated Putin on his "victory". 

MEPs called on EU countries to limit their relations with Russia to issues that are essential for regional security or related to humanitarian and human rights protection, such as prisoner swaps, release of political prisoners or the release of Ukrainian children illegally abducted to Russia.

"[The European Parliament] Calls for the EU and its Member States to continue to actively support independent Russian civil society organisations, independent media outlets and human rights defenders; calls for the EU and its Member States to actively engage with and offer support to the Russian democratic opposition who oppose Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine," the resolution says.

Resolutions of the European Parliament express its position on a particular issue and are not binding.

In an official statement, the European Union criticised the Russian sham presidential elections as being held with numerous restrictions, without the participation of a real opposition and taking place, among other things, in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

After the sham "elections" in Russia, Putin has lost his legitimacy as Russia's president, so from 19 March 2024, the outlets of the Ukrainska Pravda group has not used the word "president" to refer to Vladimir Putin. Here we explain this change is important.