Photo: ukrnews24.net
Up to three million citizens of Ukraine who live and work in Russia will not be able to take part in presidential elections, Izvestia newspaper writes.
As Russkiy Mir reported, Kiev decided not to open polling centres in Russia. The explanation for this was quite strange: Ukraine thinks that its citizens living in Russia might be the objects for “provocations and repressions”, that Russian special services can allegedly arrange. Kiev expressed doubt about Moscow’s possibilities to ensure appropriate conditions for the holding of elections in accordance with the OSCE standards.
Ukrainian authorities urged citizens to return home and vote there.
However, many Ukrainians believe that it will cost them too much. According to them, the elections have become an “unaffordable luxury” for them. To get home, they will have to ask permission to leave work or study, lose a few days and spend a lot of money on return tickets.
Ukrainian Central Election Commission is not going to organize elections in Donbass, so people from Donetsk and Lugansk will have no place to go.
Experts note that it is not yet possible to say whether elections, in which millions of people do not participate, can be considered legitimate, since international law does not offer an unambiguous interpretation of the legitimacy of presidential elections. By closing polling stations, Porosheno killed two birds with one stone. He cut off the vote of those who could oppose him. He is also showing toughness in relation to Russia.
Head of Duma’s committee on Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Kalashnikov called the decision of Ukraine a violation of the constitutional rights of Ukrainian citizens. This is much more serious than not allowing Russian observers to the electoral process, he added.
Russkiy Mir
