Ukraine's Foreign Ministry announces non-recognition of Putin's presidency and calls on the world to do likewise

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that it sees no reason to recognise Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin as the democratically elected and legitimate president of Russia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine noted that during the so-called "elections" in Russia, there were violations of the provisions of numerous international documents that form the basis of the modern system of international relations. 

One of the most egregious violations was the organisation of the electoral process in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Threats and blackmail were deliberately used to force millions of Ukrainian citizens who lived in or had been forcibly moved to the temporarily occupied territories to vote in the elections. 

"Despite warnings from authoritative international institutions, the Russian Federation's actions once again demonstrate that its leadership does not recognise its responsibility and is unwilling to end the illegal, unprovoked and unjustified full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine," the statement reads.

Based on these facts, and given the current International Criminal Court warrant for Putin's arrest, "Ukraine sees no legal basis for recognising him as the democratically elected and legitimate president of the Russian Federation," the Foreign Ministry stressed. 

"We call on foreign countries, international organisations and the public to follow suit by not recognising the results of these pseudo-elections or Russian dictator Vladimir Putin as a legitimate president." 

Czechia, Estonia and Latvia have confirmed that their representatives will not be attending Vladimir Putin's so-called inauguration on 7 May.

EU diplomat Josep Borrell is opposed to EU representatives attending the "inauguration" ceremony of the Kremlin ruler. 

On 25 April, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the manner in which Vladimir Putin's sham re-election was conducted and calling for those elections not to be declared legitimate. 

Read more: We’re no longer referring to Putin as "president". Why not, and why it matters