You're reading: Sergei Naryshkin: Legitimacy of Ukrainian president to be elected on May 25 to be incomplete but no elections even worse

The legitimacy level of the Ukrainian president to be elected, if the May 25 elections are held, will be incomplete but the situation will be even sadder if the elections do not taken place, Russia's State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said.

“We assume that the current Ukrainian authorities are illegitimate.
In my point of view, of course, the legitimacy level of the authorities
or president, voted for if the May 25 elections are held, will be
incomplete as well,” Naryshkin said in an interview with the Rossiya 24
(Russia 24) TV channel.

The legitimacy of elections amid “essentially punitive operation
regarding several regions of the country – two regions where around 7
million citizens of the country reside” is hard to imagine, Naryshkin
said.

“I have difficulty to imagine that such elections could be quite
legitimate. But at that, it is evident that not holding the elections is
even a sadder situation, so it is necessary to choose the least out of
the two evils,” the speaker said.