EU condemns sham elections in Russian-occupied Crimea

Russia's sham elections held in occupied Crimea over the weekend represent "another act of violation of international law," the European External Action Service said in a statement on Sept. 9.

Russia carried out so-called elections at a local and regional level across Russia on Sept. 6 - Sept. 8, as well as in Russian-occupied Crimea. The state-sanctioned results will not be released until the end of September.

The independent election watchdog Golos reported there had been 651 complaints of potential violations across Russia during the so-called election.

The EU strongly condemned the organization of the election in Crimea, which constitutes "another act of violation of international law, the UN Charter and Ukraine's sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity," the European External Action Service said.

The results are therefore "null and void," and will be unrecognized by the EU.

"Russia's leadership and those responsible for organizing these illegal actions will be held accountable and face consequences," the European External Action Service said.

Russia organized a pseudo-democratic presidential election in March that granted Vladimir Putin, who has been in power since 1999, six more years in office.

The vote was also organized in occupied Crimea, as well as parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts in violation of international law.

The Crimean peninsula was illegally annexed in March 2014 following a sham referendum staged by Russia in the absence of any international observers and with armed Russian soldiers present at polling locations.