Ukraine at OSCE: Russia integrating occupied Donbas into its political, economic and military space

“Russia’s political statements that it supports the reintegration of those [occupied] Ukrainian territories remain only on paper. In practice, Kremlin continues integrating the occupied parts of Donbas into Russia’s political, economic and military space,” Permanent Representative of Ukraine to International Organizations in Vienna Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk said at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on March 25.

He drew the attention of delegations of the OSCE participating States to the fact that Russia wanted to integrate the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine into its electoral space. Amid Russia's preparations for the parliamentary elections in September this year, the Kremlin “decided to use the population of the occupied Ukrainian territories for the electoral ends.”

“We strongly condemn the recently announced decision of a Russian ruling party to open its representative office in the occupied parts of the Donbas region. We again urge the Russian side to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty, and we underscore the illegal character of the ongoing so-called ‘passportization’ and involvement of Ukrainian citizens in the electoral processes of a neighbour country,” Tsymbaliuk said.

As reported, Russia has recently been actively discussing the organization of elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation on September 19, 2021, in the occupied territory of Ukraine.

In March, a representative office of the Russian political party "A Just Russia - For Truth" was opened in occupied Donetsk to hold a consultation reception of citizens living in the territories of "DPR" and "LPR".

The Ukrainian authorities condemned this step, calling it another example of Russia's neglect of its obligations under the Minsk Agreements.

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