Ukraine announces Russian electoral boycott

Ukraine announced Saturday that the upcoming Russian elections were to be boycotted throughout the country.

Russians were previously able to vote in Russian elections while in the Ukraine.

“The President (Petro Poroshenko) asked the Foreign Affairs Minister to inform Moscow of the impossibility of celebrating the Russian elections on Ukrainian territory,” the Presidential spokesman Sviatoslav Tsegolko posted on his official Twitter account.

The Russian government last week urged Ukrainian authorities to guarantee security in the embassies and consulates in Kiev, Odessa, Kharkiv and Lviv, where Russians would be able to vote in the upcoming Sept. 18 parliamentary elections.

President of the Central Election Commission in Russia Ella Pamfilova said Saturday that Russians had the right to vote in other countries in the region, even if they reside permanently in Ukraine, while diplomats and embassy personnel could vote in advance.

Since the elections were announced, Russian President Vladimir Putin had often emphasized the importance of showing the elections were legitimate and not letting citizens doubt the results.

Electoral fraud complaints in the previous legislative elections in 2011 generated the largest antigovernment protests i the country in 20 years.