REUTERS

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has said the results of future voting by residents of the temporarily occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as Crimea with illegally issued Russian passports in a referendum on amendments to Russia's Constitution will be legally null and void, will have no legal consequences and will not be recognized by Ukraine and the international community.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine considers statements by the Russian occupying administration about its intentions to ensure the voting of residents of the occupied territories of Donbas with illegally issued Russian passports in a Russian referendum on amendments to the Constitution as another attempt to violate state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," the ministry said in a comment on June 19, 2020.

Read alsoRussia may try to drag occupied Donbas residents with Russian passports into voting

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Ukrainian diplomats stress the decision on the mass issuing of Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens in the occupied territories of Donbas is a gross interference in internal affairs and Russian's further attempts at the creeping annexation of Ukrainian Donbas.

In addition, Ukraine together with foreign partners has repeatedly pointed out that the illegal issuance of passports in the occupied territories of Donbas is seen as a deliberate step aimed at destroying the Minsk agreements to which the Russian Federation is a party.

"It will be illegal both from the point of view of Ukrainian and international laws to conduct the polls in the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea, as were all previous so-called elections held by the occupying authorities on the peninsula. This voting will also be conducted with Russian passports illegally imposed on the Crimean population," the ministry said.

"The general response to the illegal actions of the Russian Federation should be increased political, diplomatic and sanction-based pressure on the aggressor state. Involving the holders of illegally issued Russian passports in Crimea and Donbas in a Russian referendum distorts and casts doubt on the result of a nationwide vote in Russia," the comment said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin scheduled a vote on amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation for July 1. The amendments provide that Putin will be able to run for another two presidential terms after 2024.