Occupied Elections | Report From Crimea

What You Need To Know:

✅ On September 18th, 2016 Russia held parliamentary elections. Crimea also voted;
✅ It was the first time when Crimean people voted in Russian elections since Russia's annexation of the peninsula;
✅ Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said he did not recognize the legitimacy, and will not recognize the outcome of the Russian Duma elections planned in Russian-occupied Crimea on September 18th. The USA does not recognize the elections either;
✅ Hromadske visited Yalta the day of pre-election silence to learn if they would vote and what their expectations were.

On September 18th, 2016 Russia held DUMA elections. It was the first time Crimean people voted in an election since Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014. But not all people wanted to use their right to vote.

Our journalists met with quite a few people from Russia that were on vacation in Yalta at that time (and they didn’t have absentee ballots).

“Is there any Rasta Party? Or Party of people, who love Jazz? Will we have an alternative country?” asks one man.

“We are fine, but I think something will be improved,” says Tatyana, a Yalta resident.

“I’ll tell you what. Nothing has changed and nothing will change. What happened here since Crimea became Russian? Yes, they repaired roadways. But they steal money as they used to. One people did it earlier, now new people came. And amounts changed, so to say,” complains Oleg, a driver.

Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said he did not recognize the legitimacy, and will not recognize the outcome of the Russian Duma elections planned in Russian-occupied Crimea on September 18th. US State Department has also published a statement that claims The United States does not recognize the legitimacy, and will not recognize the outcome, of this elections.

Watch Hromadske’s exclusive report from occupied Crimea.