OSCE: Referendums in occupied Ukrainian territories will have ‘no legal force’

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The pro-Russian authorities in the regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia announced earlier yesterday that they will urgently organize from Friday September 23rd to Tuesday September 27th referendums on their accession to Russia, a member state of the OSCE.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) leadership on Tuesday condemned plans by pro-Russian authorities in four regions of Ukraine to hold snap referendums to join the Russian Federation, saying any such vote would be a violation of international law.

“As the war following the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine continues, any so-called ‘referendums’ planned by or supported by forces exercising de facto control over occupied territories of Ukraine would be a violation of international norms and obligations under of international humanitarian law,” the OSCE leadership said in a press release.

“Their results would therefore have no legal force,” the text added.

The pro-Russian authorities in the regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia announced earlier yesterday that they will urgently organize from Friday September 23rd to Tuesday September 27th referendums on their accession to Russia, a member state of the OSCE.

A similar vote was held to legalize Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.

RES-EMP

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