The US will not send a representative to Putinʼs "inauguration", which will be held on May 7, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Also, Washington does not consider the "elections" in Russia to be fair and free, but Putin "is the president of Russia, and he will continue to be in this role."
"We unequivocally do not recognize the elections of the president in the swarm as free and fair. However, Putin is the president of Russia and will continue to act in that role. But our representative will not be at his inauguration," said the spokesman of the State Department.
"Inauguration" of Putin
The so-called inauguration of Putin will be held on May 7. Some European countries have announced that their representatives will not be at the ceremony. In particular, such statements have already been made by Germany, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. In addition, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan will not attend the ceremony.
European Union spokesman Peter Stano said during the briefing that European countries received an invitation from Russia to take part in Putinʼs "inauguration" ceremony, but now they are considering what the joint response to this invitation from the entire EU could be. Moreover, according to Stano, the high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, Josep Borrell, opposes the EU participating in Putinʼs "inauguration".
At the same time , France will send its ambassador to the so-called inauguration of Putin. This could signal a potential rift between France and other countries, notably Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which are adamantly opposed to giving Putin any form of legitimacy in the wake of Russiaʼs full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
- On April 17, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe supported a resolution calling Vladimir Putin the illegitimate president of the Russian Federation. The document emphasized that under the rule of Putin, Russia has effectively become a dictatorship, and his regime adheres to the neo-imperialist ideology of "Russian peace", which the Kremlin has turned into a tool for inciting war.
- On May 6 , the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine announced the non-recognition of Putin as the legitimate president of Russia.