Ukrainians who will help organize or execute Russia’s upcoming presidential elections on March 18 will be charged with state treason and can be sentenced for up to 15 years in prison, Oleksander Udovychenko, deputy head of prosecutor’s office in the region said, according to Crimea.Realii news website, a unit of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Udovychenko also said that citizens of other countries who help to conduct elections might face up to 12 years in prison on charges of seizure of state power and of undermining the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Russia is planning to hold illegal elections in Crimea, as it will mark the anniversary of its staged referendum on the peninsula in 2014. The annexation of Ukraine’s territory came after the deeply flawed vote held under the intimidating presence of at least 21,000 Russian soldiers who invaded the country late February 2015.
The European Union along with the United States and United Nations did not recognize the vote and condemned Russia for its land-grabbing.
Previously, Ukrainian-Crimean prosecutors called Ukraine’s citizens to ignore Russian elections held on the peninsula and not to vote. They warned that 10,000 members of election commissions in Crimea may face criminal charges.
Ukraine’s parliament on March 1 called UN’s General Assembly, OSCE, EU and NATO along with international organizations and governments not to recognize Russia’s elections held in Crimea.
U.S. representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Harry Camian said on March 2 that the U.S. will not recognize Russian elections in Crimea.
