site.btaBulgaria Denounces Russian Federation's Elections in Occupied Territories of Ukraine as "Illegal"

Bulgaria strongly condemns the "illegal" presidential elections of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the Foreign Ministry said on Facebook.

Bulgaria remains staunchly supportive of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia within their internationally recognized borders and territorial waters, the Foreign Ministry said.

Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said in a Statement on behalf of the EU, including Bulgaria, on Russian presidential elections and their non-applicability on Ukrainian territory: "The European Union (...) does not and will never recognise either the holding of these so-called 'elections' in the territories of Ukraine or their results."

"The presidential elections held by Russia on 15-17 March took place in a highly restricted environment exacerbated also by Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. Russian authorities have continued to increase the systematic internal repression by cracking down on opposition politicians, civil society organisations, independent media and other critical voices with the use of repressive legislation and politically motivated prison sentences. The shocking death of opposition politician Alexei Navalny in the run-up to the elections is yet another sign of the accelerating and systematic repression," Borrell said.

"The elections took place in an ever-shrinking political space, which has resulted in an alarming increase of violations of civil and political rights, and precluded many candidates from running, including all those opposed to Russia's illegal war of aggression, deprived Russian voters of a real choice and heavily limited their access to accurate information. The European Union will continue to support the important work of Russian civil society organisations, human rights defenders and independent media," Borrell said.