EU says Russian election took place in highly restricted environment of war

A man stands next to a screen showing the preliminary results of Russia's presidential election, at the headquarters of the Central Election Commission in Moscow, Russia, March 18, 2024. [Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters]

The European Union on Monday said the Russian election has taken place in a highly restricted environment "exacerbated by Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine".

The EU said it regretted the decision of Russian authorities not to invite international observers to its elections.

"This runs contrary to Russia's commitments and has denied Russia's voters and institutions an impartial and independent assessment of these elections," the bloc of 27 nations said in a joint statement

It also said that "so-called elections" held in the territories of Ukraine that Russia has temporarily occupied were "null and void".

[Reuters]

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