Ukraine's Foreign Ministry stated on Sept. 10 that if State Duma elections are held in Crimea on Sept. 18, they will not allow Russian citizens living in Ukraine to vote in the country's Russian embassies. Ukraine has also requested that Russia exclude Crimean candidates from the federal register.
On Sept. 12, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow would not accept Ukraine's ultimatum “under any circumstances.” In addition, the head of Russia's Central Electoral Commission, Ella Pamfilova, warned that the situation “could backfire on Ukraine in an unexpected way.”
This will be the first time that the annexed peninsula will participate in the State Duma elections.
The United Russia party has put Svetlana Savchenko forward as a candidate on the peninsula — a woman who shares her surname with formerly imprisoned military pilot Nadiya Savchenko – as a candidate under the slogan “our Crimean
Savchenko.”
Ukraine's retaliation has been branded
as “ridiculous” in a post on the website of Russia's Foreign Ministry.
