"Ten years after the annexation of Crimea and two years after the launch of the ongoing bloody war in Ukraine, Russia's sitting president Vladimir Putin is holding "elections", the result of which the entire world already knows," the joint statement said.

"The upcoming presidential "elections" in Russia will be neither free nor fair. In the environment of total crackdown on opposition and independent media, with lack of credible alternative candidates and without the international monitoring, these elections will lack any democratic legitimacy." 

The ministers called Putin a "war criminal and a dictator who is consistently violating international law".

"We will continue to stand firmly with the joint position of the European Union, supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity. We condemn and do not and will not recognize the elections nor their results in Ukraine's territories temporarily annexed and occupied by Russia," the ministers wrote.

The statement was signed by the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna, Latvian Minister of Foreign Affairs Krišjanis Karinš, and Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis.

"The killing of his loudest and most influential critic Alexei Navalny in a penal colony [on February 16 – ed.] sends a clear message to anyone running against Putin – opposing the war will kill you," Tsahkna said in a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He said the upcoming presidential elections "have nothing to do with democracy".

Last year, Russia and the Baltics downgraded their diplomatic relations. Estonia and Russia no longer have ambassadors in each country. The highest ranking Russian at the embassy in Tallinn is a chargés d'affaires.

Last week, Latvian Prime Minster Evika Silina said the Baltics were seeking to present a unified position on the Russian elections.

The statement is printed in full below:

Almost ten years have passed since Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol and two years since Russia's full-scale invasion and aggression against Ukraine.

As this brutal war continues, claiming the lives of Ukrainians and causing enormous human suffering and destruction, Russia plans to organize so-called elections on the dates coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the illegal annexation of Crimea, which is yet another blatant provocation by Russia. Russia has announced that it intends to hold them also in temporarily occupied and illegally annexed territories of Ukraine. This step is difficult to treat as anything but yet another attempt to legalize the temporary occupation and annexation of the Ukrainian territories. 

We, the Foreign Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, while referring to the statement of the European Union High representative Josep Borrell from 12 December 2023, stress that holding Russia's elections in the temporarily occupied and illegally annexed territories of Ukraine is a grave violation of international law, the UN Charter and Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. We do not and will not recognize the holding of such elections nor their results in Ukraine's territories temporarily occupied and illegally annexed by Russia. Russia has no legitimate basis for any such action on the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine. We strongly condemn these unacceptable decisions by Russia's political leadership. Russia's political leadership and those involved in organizing such action will bear the consequences of these illegal activities.

We firmly support Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk are Ukraine.

The upcoming presidential "elections" in Russia will be neither free nor fair. In the environment of a total crackdown on opposition and independent media, with a lack of credible alternative candidates and without international monitoring, these elections will lack any democratic legitimacy. 

Meanwhile, we confirm that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania continue to respect our international obligations to ensure the security of diplomatic missions and their staff in our countries, and will continue doing so.

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