The UK government is introducing new sanctions against Russian officials involved in the recent fake elections in the occupied parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as in the illegally occupied Crimea.
This is stated on the website of the British Foreign Office.
The sanctions list includes the Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) and high-ranking Russian officials who directly organized the sham elections in September and last year’s pseudo-referendums in the Ukrainian territories.
Yes, they are subject to sanctions:
- Natalia Budarina, Secretary of the Central Election Commission of Russia, one of the highest officials of the Central Election Commission.
- Andriy Alekseenko, head of the so-called Kherson regional administration.
- Maryna Zakharova, head of the so-called Kherson election commission.
The UK Foreign Office notes that sham referendums held on sovereign Ukrainian territory were rejected by the UN General Assembly in October 2022. In addition, Ukrainians living in these temporarily occupied territories have experienced large-scale atrocities by Russian forces, including torture, sexual violence and mass deportation.
Russia seeks to destroy Ukrainian culture and identity in order to strengthen its illegal claims on the territory of Ukraine, including through the forced issuance of Russian passports.
In early September, Russia organized new sham elections in the occupied regions of Ukraine. These elections are yet another violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the UN Charter. Earlier, the United Kingdom provided the UN Security Council with evidence that the results of the elections were known before they were held.
It is worth noting that the UK has imposed sanctions on more than 1,800 individuals and legal entities from the Russian Federation. Among them are 29 banks, which account for more than 90% of the Russian banking sector, and 129 oligarchs.