Ukrainian voters residing in Russia will be able to vote in the presidential election only by travelling to another country, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said.
“We must create conditions for everyone to vote abroad, but those who are in the territory of Russia, the aggressor state, can vote outside Russia. We cannot hold the election in the territory of the aggressor state due to the danger posed to our citizens among other things,” Klimkin said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.
Commenting on the opinion that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry was depriving a large number of citizens of the opportunity to vote by refraining from opening polling stations in Russia, the minister said: “A total of 1,100 people voted in the last presidential election at all polling stations in Russia. (…) There is no need to manipulate [people] by saying that millions of Ukrainians would not be able to vote.”
Klimkin also mentioned that Russian observers would not be monitoring the Ukrainian election. “The observers of the aggressor state, which has violated all possible and impossible principles of international law and moral principles, cannot monitor the process of a democratic election,” Klimkin said, adding that the Russian observers “serve security services rather than democracy.”
The Ukrainian presidential election will take place on March 31.
