Giorgio Descovich Deschi

From 8 to 10 September 2023, the Russian forces organised widely condemned regional and municipal elections in the regions of occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. The results were largely rejected by the international community, with North Korea and Syria being the only ones to explicitly recognise them.

During the “presidential elections” held in Russia from 15-17 March 2024, Vladislav Davankov (“New People” party), Nikolay Kharitonov (Communist Party), Vladimir Putin, and Leonid Slutsky (Liberal-Democratic Party) competed for the presidency. Enabled to run yet again by controversial constitutional amendments effective 4 July 2020, Putin dominated the “elections” together with his controlled “opposition” excluding genuine opposition figures. These “elections” occurred under Putin’s regime control, both within Russia and illegally in occupied Ukrainian territories, including Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, ARC and Sevastopol.