Russia’s attempt to legitimize its illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory contravenes the Geneva Conventions and Ukraine’s sovereignty, and has no force under international law.
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) strongly condemns Russia’s staging of State Duma elections on Ukrainian territory that Russia illegally invaded and illegally occupies. Russia’s attempt to legitimize its illegal occupation of Ukrainian territory contravenes the Geneva Conventions and Ukraine’s sovereignty, and has no force under international law.
Free and fair elections are at the center of democracy, and they cannot be held in territory illegally occupied as part of a war of aggression. The Russian vote is scheduled for September 18-20, 2026, including in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts and in Crimea, where early voting is already underway.
IFES stands firmly with the government of Ukraine and the international community in condemning these sham Russian elections, and in refusing to recognize them or their results. We echo Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha in urging all governments not to recognize this invalid vote, and we support Ukraine’s Central Election Commission in calling on citizens residing in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory to refrain from participating in this sham exercise.
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is not only an egregious assault on a sovereign democratic country; it is an attack on democracy worldwide. IFES remains deeply committed to a free, whole, and democratic Ukraine, and we will continue to stand with and support our partners in Ukraine as they build the democratic and European future that Ukrainians so clearly demand.