BRUSSELS, Belgium
The European Union on Wednesday criticized the "illegal" annexation votes Russia held in four occupied regions of Ukraine and their "falsified" results, the bloc's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
"EU denounces holding of
illegal 'referenda' and their falsified outcome," Borrell wrote on
Twitter.
"This is another
violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, amidst systematic
abuses of human rights," he said.
Meanwhile, European Council
President Charles Michel also tweeted: "Sham referenda. Sham results. We
recognize neither."
On Tuesday, the EU spokesman
Peter Stano announced the bloc would slap sanctions on organizers of the
"illegal" vote.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, the EU has implemented six
rounds of sanctions targeting Russian individuals, entities, good exports and
technology and banking as well as an embargo on most Russian oil and coal
exports.
Sham votes in Russia-held
Ukrainian regions are 'fiction' — Hug
The so-called
"referendums" held over last few days in the occupied
regions of Ukraine were "a work of fiction," Alexander Hug, the
former principal deputy chief monitor of the OSCE special monitoring mission to
Ukraine, told DW.
"And a very obscene
fiction that is in which viewers are invited to suppose that victims of
atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces might side with the
perpetrators of them," he said.
According to Hug, the script
for what happened and what will happen in occupied Ukrainian regions has been
written a long time ago.
"What happened in 2014
[annexation of Crimea and Russian interference in Donbas] was probably the
precursor of what we now may see to be unfold in these four areas," he
said.
However, Hug emphasized that
Ukraine has all the right to defend its territory. "That remains its
territory after these illegal actions that Russia took," he said.
Ukraine called on the West to "significantly" increase its military aid to Ukraine after pro-Kremlin authorities in four Moscow-held regions of Ukraine declared victory in annexation votes.
"Ukraine calls on the EU,
NATO and the Group of Seven to immediately and significantly increase pressure
on Russia, including by imposing tough sanctions and significantly increase
their military aid to Ukraine," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a
statement.
The statement also said that
Russian-staged votes in four Ukrainian regions on becoming part of Russia
were "null and worthless", and that Ukraine would press on with
efforts to liberate Ukrainian territory occupied by Russian forces.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
said that Ukraine "will never agree to any ultimatums."
The European Union believes
sabotage is the likely cause of leaks
from the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines and is threatening
countermeasures, its top diplomat Josep Borrell said on behalf of all
member states.
"The European Union is
deeply concerned about damage to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines that has
resulted in leaks in the international waters of the Baltic Sea," Borrell
said in a statement. "These incidents are not a coincidence and affect us
all."
According to Borrell, all of
the available information indicated that the leaks were the result of a
deliberate act. "We will support any investigation aimed at getting full
clarity on what happened and why, and will take further steps to increase our
resilience in energy security," he said.
Borrell said that any
deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable
and would be met with a "robust and united response."
Meanwhile, NATO
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg attributed the leaks on the Nord Stream
pipelines to acts of sabotage and said he had discussed the protection of
critical infrastructure in NATO countries with the Danish defense minister.
Canada will impose new
sanctions over Russia's "sham" referendums in four occupied regions
of Ukraine, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Trudeau said Canada would
never recognize the results of the referendums or Russia's attempted illegal
annexation of Ukrainian territories.
"We intend to impose new
sanctions against persons and entities that are complicit in this latest
attempt to undermine the principles of state sovereignty, and that share
responsibility for the ongoing senseless bloodshed across Ukraine,"
Trudeau said in a statement. - DW
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