Britain responds to “elections” under Russian occupation in Ukraine with new sanctions

The head of the Foreign Ministry of Great Britain, James Cleverley, announced new sanctions in connection with the pseudo-elections organized by the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Britain has declared that it will never recognize Russia's claims to Ukrainian territory.

EP reports this with reference to the British Foreign Office.

Eleven new individuals will be added to the UK sanctions list in response to Russia's attempts to use fake "elections" to legitimize its illegal control over Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk regions and Crimea, which are part of Ukraine's sovereign territory.

The British Foreign Ministry explained that the list includes organizations and Russian high-ranking officials who directly acted to undermine Ukraine and threaten its territorial integrity.

• Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC), the state body that organized this month's sham elections and last year's referendums in illegally temporarily controlled parts of Ukraine;
• Nataliia Budarina, secretary of the CEC, one of the highest officials in the Central Election Commission;
• Andrii Alekseenko, head of the so-called Kherson regional administration;
• Maryna Zakharova, head of the so-called election commission in Kherson.

"Fictive elections in Russia are a transparent, futile attempt to legitimize its illegal control over the sovereign Ukrainian territory. You cannot hold "elections" in a foreign country.

Great Britain will never recognize Russia's claims to Ukrainian territory. Crimea, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson are Ukraine," Cleverly said.

This latest package of sanctions appeared on the eve of a new commemorative day in Russia, declared by Putin to mark the anniversary of the annexation of Ukrainian territories, even though Russia has no legal grounds for any territorial claims, the British Foreign Office emphasized.

It was also recalled that the residents of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions overwhelmingly voted for the independence of Ukraine in 1991, and their continued resistance to Russian aggression testifies to their determination to remain part of an independent and sovereign Ukraine.

"These latest sanctions serve as a stark reminder of the cost of such a blatant attack on sovereignty, democracy, and equality," the statement said.

According to the media, in October, the European Union member states may start discussing a new, already twelfth, package of sanctions against Russia due to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It is known that restrictions on the trade in Russian diamonds, which are planned to be introduced by G7 countries, may be announced earlier in the new sanctions draft.

The package could be adopted in the first half of October or announced during the EU-US summit scheduled for the same month.

It will be recalled that in September, the United States of America increased sanctions against five more Russian companies, as their actions pose a danger to the foreign policy of the United States.

In addition, Canada introduced new sanctions against 63 people and companies associated with Russia. In particular, those responsible for kidnapping Ukrainian children and spreading disinformation were included in the list.

The Council of the European Union also decided to extend for six months the sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities responsible for violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine.