Continuing the work aimed at the deoccupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and with regard to the intention of the occupant-state to hold elections to the State Duma in Crimea on 18 September 2016,Dmytro Kuleba, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe, sent a letter to Permanent Representatives of the Council of Europe member-states describing in details Ukrainian position on the matter and legal consequences of holding Russian elections in the illegally occupied territory of Ukraine.

The full text of the said letter is cited below.

Dear colleague,

I write to draw your attention to the strongest protest, expressed by Ukraine against the intention of the Russian authorities to hold elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine – the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

The Council of Europe is an organization that stands for the rule of law. Elections in the occupied Crimea have nothing to do with this principle. Such an act violates fundamental norms and principles of international law, respective decisions of the United Nations and the Council of Europe, and Ukrainian legislation.

I hate wasting your time on the details of the Russian legislation but they are important to explain where the whole situation is heading to.

From the legal perspective, the upcoming elections is a legal weapon of self-destruction.

Allow me to be strictly juridical here: Russia's parliament consists of 450 members. The law says that one half of the parliament will be elected in accordance with plurality voting system and people will cast their votes for specific candidates. This will make it easy to identify members of the parliament elected in Crimea and ensure their non-recognition. There will be four of them.

However, another half of the parliament will be elected on the proportional basis. As voters in the occupied Crimea will be voting for parties, not persons, it will be impossible to identify deputies elected on the peninsula. Therefore, 225 deputies, the entire half of the parliament, will be delegitimized.

Add 4 deputies from the first half to 225 from the second half and you will get a number of 229, an illegitimate majority sufficient for adopting Duma's illegitimate decisions.

We hence urge Russian authorities to avoid this purely legal trap and give up the idea of holding elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

If Russia holds elections in the occupied Crimea, we call on the Council of Europe and its member States to refrain from recognizing Duma election results and any Russian delegation to parliamentary assemblies that will include deputies "elected" in Crimea.

Best regards,

Dmytro Kuleba

Ambassador,

Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe