In its statement, the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations sharply criticized the so-called “electoral events” that took place in Russia and in occupied areas on March 15-17.
We publish the full text of the document:
“On March 15-17, 2024, a farce took place in Russia, which even those among the country’s leadership referred to as “bureaucratic procedure” or “electoral events”.
Running “elections” under such conditions, as well as the manner in which they were held renders them null and void, and the one who appointed himself as winner of this type of competition is completely illegitimate.
However, we are obliged to emphasize that these pseudo-elections are not just null and void. They are criminal in nature. There is the blood of innocent people, the sin of murder, the deceit of lies, and the mark of a thief on them.
People were forcibly dragged to these “elections” in lands that were snatched from Ukraine and that the civilized world will never recognize as Russian. In lands that will definitely be returned to the rightful owner – the Ukrainian people.
A crime that will never be covered up by any “electoral events” will not have a statute of limitations. In terms of its insidiousness, it will stand in line with Hitler’s plebiscites. Shameful footage of Russian propaganda showing “happy residents” om the occupied territories, whose relatives and loved ones were killed by the invaders, whose homes and worlds were destroyed is an absolute copy of the Hitler newsreels about “grateful peasants” who were forced into slave labor more than 80 years ago.
We call upon the world to remember who exactly is destined to be the winner of this “election” long before it started. It is about a person reasonably suspected of grave crimes, for whose arrest the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant.
We remind you that among the victims of the regime he leads are people of the same fate with us, Christians, Muslims, Jews; clergymen and ordinary people of living faith; those who suffered solely for their religious beliefs and those who did not want to put up with evil.
We call on our brothers and sisters around the world to appeal to their Governments to unconditionally condemn and not be neutral to еру regime, which seeks to trample peace in the entire world and poses a threat to all humanity,” the document reads.
