In a letter to Director of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODHIR) Michael Georg Link dated 14 September 2016, Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij expressed alarm over the content of the Interim Report of 2 September 2016 (Interim Report) of the OSCE ODIHR Election Observation Mission to the Russian Federation (EOM).
The Interim Report does not acknowledge: (a) the internationally condemned illegal occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation; and (b) the fact that the so-called “elections” to be held in four Crimean single-mandate constituencies (SMCs) by the occupation authorities must a priori be recognized as illegitimate.
In view of these important omissions, the UWC considers that the Interim Report can be construed as a de facto recognition by the EOM that the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol are part of the Russian Federation, which disregards the clear position of international organizations, parliamentary assemblies, and the overwhelming majority of national governments.
The UWC strongly supports the Appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to foreign parliaments, parliamentary assemblies and international organizations on holding elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation on the territory of the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea which calls for the non-recognition of the results of any so-called elections on the illegally occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea.
The UWC urges the OSCE/ODHIR to take appropriate measures without delay to clarify its position, including:
- issuing an amended Interim Report unequivocally presenting the current and actual status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol;
- abstaining from sending EOM observers to the 19th, 20th, 21st and 219th (Sevastopol) SMCs; and
- ensuring that the OSCE/ODIHR Final Report and all subsequent statements by related OSCE structures includes statements that re-affirm the illegal occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation and the illegitimacy of any elections held on the occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol as part of the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
“The Ukrainian World Congress calls for the international community to remain firm in its condemnation of the illegal occupation of Crimea and to reject any attempt by the Russian Federation to claim legitimacy for any electoral process on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.
