EU slams Russia for 'illegal' referenda in Ukraine

A woman casts her ballot for a referendum at a mobile voting station in Mariupol on September 25, 2022. Western nations dismissed the referendums in Kremlin-controlled regions of eastern and southern Ukraine as the voting on whether Russia should annex four regions of Ukraine started on September 23, 2022. PHOTO | AFP

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The European Union on Wednesday slammed "illegal" annexation votes Russia held in four occupied regions of Ukraine and their "falsified" results, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

"EU denounces holding of illegal 'referenda' and their falsified outcome," Borrell said on Twitter.

"This is another violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, amidst systematic abuses of human rights," he said.

European Council President Charles Michel tweeted: "Sham referenda. Sham results. We recognize neither."

On Tuesday, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called the votes organised by Moscow in the occupied Ukrainian regions as "a blatant violation of international law" which have "no legitimacy".

Kremlin-installed authorities in those regions are already claiming the ballots had gone Russia's way. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected on Friday to declare those regions annexed parts of Russia, coming under its nuclear umbrella.