You're reading: Irish Times: Ukraine bars Russians from voting over Crimea dispute

Irish Times: Ukraine bars Russians from voting over Crimea dispute

Published March 19, 2018 at 9:19 am

A national guard member is seen in front of a poster as supporters of different Ukrainian nationalist parties block access for Russian citizens who live in Ukraine to the election committee and polling station at the Russian embassy building in Kyiv on March 18.

Photo by Volodymyr Petrov

Ukraine prevented Russian citizens from taking part in their country’s presidential elections on March 18, in response to Russia’s opening of voting booths across the Crimean peninsula, which it annexed exactly four years ago.

Police blocked entrances to Russia’s embassy in Kyiv and consulates in other Ukrainian cities, while nearby ultranationalist paramilitaries and protesters denounced the Kremlin’s multifaceted but undeclared war against their country.