On September 18, Russians went to the polls to elect 450 members of parliament. The big news is that Vladimir Putin’s United Russia performed surprisingly well, taking approximately 54 percent of the vote. But the underreported news is this: Russians elected four MPs from occupied Ukrainian Crimea, which is illegal and grossly violates international law. The Ukrainian parliament does not recognize the Duma elections as legitimate and urges the international community to reject the results altogether; recognizing them will legalize the ongoing occupation of Crimea and their acquiescence undermines the rule of law. Officials in Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Romania, …read more
Source: Atlantic Council