Germany slams ‘sham elections’ in occupied Ukrainian regions

BERLIN

Germany on Friday slammed Russia for conducting “sham elections” in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

“This is nothing more than an obvious propaganda exercise. We do not recognize Russia's attempted land grab,” the German Foreign Ministry said on social media platform X.

Russian authorities are in the process of conducting local elections this weekend in the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Crimea, and parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhya.

Western countries are accusing Russia of trying to legitimize the annexation of Ukrainian territory by holding elections in the occupied areas.