Zelenskyy signs sanctions decree targeting Russian election organisers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has approved sanctions against 44 people whom Kyiv accuses of assisting Russia in organising State Duma elections in territories Ukraine considers temporarily occupied.

The decree implements a decision by Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council and targets individuals whom the Ukrainian authorities say act in Russia’s interests and support its occupation of parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as Crimea and Sevastopol.

Some of those sanctioned had previously been presented as deputies of local councils established by Russian-backed authorities in the occupied territories. The list also includes media figure Irina Kuksenkova, described by Ukraine as a propagandist and collaborator with the occupation authorities, and former Ukrainian lawmaker Yuriy Onyshchuk, whom Kyiv says began cooperating with Russia after Russian forces occupied Melitopol.

Ukraine maintains that Russian-organised elections in the occupied territories are illegitimate and says their results and related documents have no legal basis.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, an adviser to Zelenskyy and the presidential commissioner for sanctions policy, cited international humanitarian law in defending Kyiv’s position.

“International humanitarian law, in particular the Hague Regulations and the Geneva Convention, obliges the occupying state to respect the legislation in force in the occupied territory. Occupation does not confer any sovereignty. The UN General Assembly has repeatedly confirmed Ukraine’s territorial integrity, in particular in 2014 with regard to Crimea and in 2022, when 143 states condemned the attempt to illegally annex Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and recognised it as invalid. No ‘elections’, ‘referendums’ or ‘electoral districts’ change this status,” Vlasiuk said.

The Ukrainian government says the sanctions are intended to target people involved in Russia’s political processes in the occupied territories.

By Tamilla Hasanova