On Monday 18 March, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, issued a statement on behalf of the EU27 condemning the holding of the presidential election in Russia from 15 to 17 March in a “highly restricted (political) environment”.
Vladimir Putin was re-elected for six years with 87.28% of the vote.
“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”, Mr Borrell summarised.
The EU also regretted Russia’s decision not to invite OSCE observers to its elections, claiming that this deprived voters and Russian institutions of an impartial and independent assessment of these elections.
The High Representative reiterated that the 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.
Mr Borrell also stated that the “shocking death” of Alexei Navalny in the run-up to the elections was a further sign of the accelerating and systematic repression. At the end of the EU ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council, the High Representative announced that the ministers had agreed to sanctions against those responsible for the murder of Mr Navalny. According to him, 30 individuals and entities are affected by the EU sanctions regime linked to human rights violations.
On her arrival at the EU Council, the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, described the vote in Russia as “an election without a choice”. Her Estonian counterpart, Margus Tsahkna, described the election as a “farce”, adding that Mr Putin’s rightful place was before the international courts in The Hague. The Belgian minister, Hadja Lahbib, said that it was necessary to fight against Putin’s dictatorship.
In its declaration, the EU also strongly condemned the illegal holding of ‘so-called elections’ in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia, a “manifest violation” of international law and of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The EU has reaffirmed that it will never recognise the holding of these elections on Ukrainian territory or their results. “Russia’s political leadership and those involved in organising them will face consequences of these illegal actions”, warned Mr Borrell.
In a statement, the EPP group in the European Parliament called on foreign ministers to declare that Mr Putin is not a “legitimate president” of Russia. “Discussing Putin’s legitimacy is like discussing the legitimacy of a Mafia boss (...). We can now call Putin many things: dictator, war criminal, head of the Kremlin mafia, but we cannot call him President”, said the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Russia, Andrius Kubilius (EPP, Lithuanian). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)