The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has recognized the new composition of the Russian State Duma as illegitimate. 59 deputies voted unanimously in favor of the resolution.
This was reported by a member of the permanent delegation of the Verkhovna Rada to PACE Yevhenia Kravchuk.
According to Kravchuk, the resolution states that the "elections" to the State Duma did not meet the conditions of free and fair elections. Therefore, the new State Duma cannot be considered a democratically elected or legitimate representative body.
PACE also called for not recognizing the legal or political consequences of the Russian "elections" in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and not interacting with the new State Duma. Separately, the assembly condemned the coercion of Ukrainian citizens in the occupied territories to participate in the Russian "elections".
Kravchuk noted that amendments were made to the resolution that enshrine the principles of international humanitarian law regarding occupation. In particular, temporary occupation does not transfer sovereignty to the occupying state and cannot be used to change the legal status of the occupied territory.
PACE also called for sanctions to be imposed against the leadership of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, regional election commissions, and other people who organized or administered Russian "elections", including in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
- Three-day elections to the State Duma were held in Russia on September 18–20, 2026. These were the first parliamentary elections in the Russian Federation since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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