Ausführliche Sitzungsberichte

Mittwoch, 10. April 2024 - Brüssel

19. Die undemokratische Präsidentschaftswahl in Russland und ihre unrechtmäßige Ausweitung auf die besetzten Gebiete (Aussprache)

  President. – The next item is the debate on the Commission statement on Russia’s undemocratic presidential elections and their illegitimate extension to the occupied territories (2024/2665(RSP)).

I should like to inform Members that there will be only one round of political group speakers, no catch-the-eye procedure and no blue cards, so be aware of that.

  Josep Borrell Fontelles, Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. – Madam President, honourable Members of the European Parliament, as you know very well, the Russian presidential elections held on 15-17 March did not meet democratic standards and were illegally held in the occupied territories of Ukraine – temporarily occupied.

These elections were based on repressive laws, persecution of political opposition leaders, civil society representatives and journalists, including those opposing Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. These elections were marked with arbitrary detention and the terror caused by the poisoning and death of key figures like Alexei Navalny. They took place under a flood of disinformation, lack of access to independent media and strong propaganda supported by massive public funds for many years. So to call that elections is an irony.

For the first time, Russian authorities decided not to invite observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This is not only contrary to Russia’s own international commitment, but has also denied Russia’s voters and institutions the transparency and independent assessment of these elections. In an autocracy like Russia, where freedom of information and checks and balances just don’t exist, official electoral figures need to be assessed against the full electoral context, and the fact is that all the above abusive measures guaranteed Putin an electoral process free from genuine political competence and deprived Russian citizens of their right to stand in the elections and make a free and informed political choice with their vote.

That’s why, on behalf of the European Union, I want to reiterate here that I strongly condemn, as we have done many times, the illegitimate elections that Russia has organised in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, and as the European Union High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy I have never shied away from bringing our message to Putin’s regime, to uphold the rights of all Russian political leaders and activists, civil society representatives, human rights defenders and independent media, to firmly condemn the attempted illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories and now Russia’s full scale war of aggression against Ukraine.

The European Union has demonstrated, and will keep demonstrating, that any continued internal repression and external aggression by Putin’s regime does have negative consequences. Russia’s regime underestimated the resilience and unity of Europeans. We have demonstrated that our unity is unbreakable and that despite Russia’s attempt to interfere in our democracies – as I am sure they will try to do again in the next European elections – and no matter how much they invest in disinformation and manipulation of information, and even trying to pay or maybe paying a few European Union politicians to spread Russia’s propaganda. This is despicable, not only illegal, and I welcome that our strong democratic institutions are already taking measures to investigate and condemn these acts.

I want to praise the strong political stand of this Parliament, which has never hesitated to support the unprecedented measures that the European Union has taken to respond to both the internal and international aggression by the Russian regime.

As Members of this Parliament know very well, we have imposed by unanimity of all Member States 13 sanctions to respond to Russia’s aggression and invasion of Ukraine, and following Navalny’s death, we imposed sanctions against 33 persons and two entities under the human rights sanctions regime – by the way, a regime that I proposed to create in my first Foreign Affairs Council as High Representative, and which now we have in order to fight against human rights violators.

Now we have a new Russia-specific sanctions regime, which is under discussion by Member States, and I hope it will be approved swiftly as well. Russia’s economy and their war machinery has been considerably weakened by our sanctions, and in time the effect of these sanctions will be increasingly evident as the volume and quality of investment deteriorate and Russia is being deprived of the advanced technologies needed to support its war and its growth.

We expose Russia’s propaganda, disinformation and interference and information manipulation orchestrated by Putin’s regime. I invite all of you to watch and share the EU versus disinformation website and its social media, counting to continue raising awareness on this threat.

We have cut our dependency on Russian gas. The value of European Union imports from Russia fell by 82 % between February 2022 and December 2023. An 82 % decrease means almost vanishing. We have reduced our dependency on Russian gas imports from 40 % of our total imports in 2021 to 15 % in 2023, and with our sanctions we have not only successfully diversified away from Russian fossil fuels, but curtailed Russia’s ability to weaponize its energy supplies, cut major revenue streams of the Kremlin and supported lower energy prices in Europe after the big boost over the last summer.

Honourable Members, all that is okay, well done, but we have to continue doing more and quicker. We have to continue supporting Russian independent media, civil society and human rights activists inside and outside Russia. We have to support Russian NGOs and human rights defenders. They deserve to receive our support, and we assist Russian-language independent media and journalists.

The European Union institutions and its Member States have already provided Ukraine with the quite big figure of EUR 96 billion of support. We are reaching the EUR 100 billion of support to Ukraine, and inside this figure 31 billion are military support. In addition to that, there is the macro-financial, humanitarian and other kinds of support. Some may say, ‘oh, it is very expensive to support Ukraine’, but not to support Ukraine and let Ukraine fall in front of the Russian aggression will be much more expensive for us and for the generations to come, because Russia would become a bigger threat to our security and freedom. Yes, we have to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, putting into action all our capacities – financial and military.

Honourable Members, this is a good occasion to commit on continuing to uphold the human rights of all Russians, because we have nothing against the Russian people. Neither us nor the Ukrainians are in war with the Russian people. They are just defending from a regime that uses war in order to change their political system and to cancel their independency and sovereignty, and we are supporting them and offering unwavering support to Ukraine, not just because it is our neighbour but because it is our partner – one of the most important partners and now a candidate to become a member of the European Union – and its independency, its sovereignty, its territorial integrity is also part of our capacity to continue living in freedom.

So please support the action taken by the European Institutions and Member States to continue supporting Ukraine and make clear that the last elections in Russia have not been either free or fair.

  Rasa Juknevičienė, on behalf of the PPE Group. – Madam President, dear colleagues, Putin is an illegitimate president. I call on the leaders of the democratic world not to call Putin president, because he is certainly not one now.

First of all, because this electoral operation took place in the occupied territories of Ukraine. There have been no democratic elections in Russia for a long time. It was a psychological KGB-type operation against its own citizens first of all.

At the same time, Ukrainians continue to die on the front lines. Their cities are being destroyed every day. On the eve of this special operation, which Putin calls elections, Aleksei Navalny died in a Gulag-like prison in the Arctic. A man whom Putin feared and therefore tortured.

Putin is afraid of real elections because he is afraid of his people. That is why Putin is the biggest Russophobe. Putin is creating a 21st-century totalitarianism in Russia based on hatred, aggression and violence.

But this colonial imperial regime will collapse sooner or later. I once again call on you to stop being afraid of Putin. Let him be afraid of us. We need a strategy and a coalition for victory in Ukraine. But we also need a bold coalition to defeat Putin and his regime; the kind of coalition that was built to defeat Hitler.

  Eero Heinäluoma, S&D-ryhmän puolesta. – Arvoisa puhemies, Venäjän viimekuisten presidentinvaalien tulos ei tainnut yllättää ketään. Niin sanotut vaalit käytiin tilanteessa, jossa maan oppositio on vangittuna, maanpaossa tai surmattuna. Todelliset poliittiset haastajat estetty asettumasta ehdolle ja vapaa media ajettu alas. Tilanteessa, jossa kansalaisyhteiskunta on tukahdutettu ja kansalaisia vangittu mielensä osoittamisesta. Vaalit eivät siis todellakaan olleet vapaat eivätkä reilut, vaan näytös istuvan presidentin valtakauden jatkamiseksi.

Vaalit käytiin tilanteessa, jossa Venäjä jatkaa kolmatta vuotta hyökkäyssotaansa Ukrainassa. Venäjän miehittämillä alueilla Ukrainassa vaalit käytiin aseistettujen sotilaiden tarkkailun ja painostuksen alla. Vaalien järjestäminen miehitetyillä alueilla on räikeä loukkaus Ukrainan itsenäisyyttä, itsemääräämisoikeutta ja alueellista koskemattomuutta vastaan. Ne olivat kansainvälisen oikeuden vastaiset, eikä niiden tulosta näin ollen voi pitää laillisena.

Putinin käyttäessä tekaistua vaalivoittoa oikeuttaakseen sotatoimet Ukrainassa, tulee Euroopan unionin seistä Ukrainan ja ukrainalaisten rinnalla entistä lujemmin. Tukemme Ukrainalle tulee jatkua horjumattomana ja sitä tulee lisätä, ei vähentää.

Venäjän muutos on venäläisten itsensä tehtävä. Kuten Aleksei Navalnyi ennen kuolemaansa ja maan oppositio ennen vaaleja vetosi, saapui Putinin vastustajia protestimielessä samaan aikaan äänestyspaikoille sunnuntaina keskipäivällä. Nämä kansalaiset edustavat toisenlaista Venäjää, uutta Venäjää, Venäjää, jota meidän on syytä tukea.

  Bernard Guetta, on behalf of the Renew Group. – Madam President, dear colleagues, it would be nice to listen a little bit. Just a little bit. Thank you. Just a question of politeness. I will start.

– Madame la Présidente, Président de la Fédération de Russie, oui, vous l’êtes bel et bien, Monsieur Poutine. Vous l’êtes, hélas, encore et toujours; car ce sont bien vos ambitions impériales qui ont fait renaître la guerre en Europe et mis le monde au bord du gouffre.

Mais président élu du peuple russe, non, vous ne l’êtes pas. Vous ne l’êtes pas, puisque vous avez poussé cette mascarade jusqu’à l’organiser dans les territoires ukrainiens annexés. Vous ne l’êtes pas, puisqu’il n’y eut pas d’autre campagne que votre glorification permanente. Vous ne l’êtes pas, car vous n’avez pas eu d’autres adversaires que ceux que vous aviez désignés. Vous ne l’êtes pas, car si vous n’aviez pas craint le désaveu de votre peuple, vous n’auriez pas instauré votre froide terreur et fait embastiller ou assassiner vos opposants. C’est avant tout vous-même, votre peur de tout et de chacun, qui avez enlevé, triste sire, toute crédibilité à ce triste sacre.

  Sergey Lagodinsky, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, colleagues, it’s not a matter of politeness. For many people in Ukraine and in Russia, it’s a matter of survival.

What we’re talking about here is not elections. It’s a mockery of choice that we’ve been experiencing for the past months and witnessing for the past months in Russia. An election campaign made by the Kremlin – made that political opponents were killed. Also, some of us who are friends with them, or some of us who gave them prizes, have witnessed that.

The political campaign made in the Kremlin meant that some few authentic opposition candidates were disqualified for no reasons, and it meant that people in occupied territories in Ukraine were not just killed and tortured – they were at gunpoint subjugated under a new occupier tsar.

We already witness the fallout of this travesty of elections: Ukraine terrorised even more and Russians controlled even tighter. Under those circumstances, our answer can be only threefold. The EU should state clearly that these elections were an illegitimate farce. We must urgently increase help for Ukraine so that they don’t have to vote once again under gunpoint. And we do everything to support the courageous Russian opposition and to save those who are in prison for political reasons, like Vladimir Kara-Murza, like Ilya Yashin, like Lilia Chanysheva and many others. This is our duty and this duty we will follow.

  Josep Borrell Fontelles, Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. – Madam President, I am very happy that so many Members came to listen to my concluding remarks to this important debate. Thank you for your attention. I’m not joking; the debate is important because what has happened in Russia is important.

These elections did not bring any change in Russia. And so there is no change in our policy towards Russia. These elections took place in an ever-shrinking political space. Russian voters were deprived of a real choice. Many candidates were precluded from running, including all those who oppose the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

I am happy to see that all the Members that took the floor in this debate support the important work that we are doing in order to support the Russian civil society organisations, the human rights defenders and independent media.

Regarding the rights of minorities in the electoral process, according to the Russian Constitution, Russian citizens, including minorities, can run to vote. We have been topping up the funding for Russia pro-democracy, anti-war actors in size and, in a number of operations we will continue supporting the Russian human rights defenders and their agenda in international human forums.

We monitor judicial cases in Russia together with Member States. Supporting independent media is crucial, as has been demonstrated in the electoral context. All Russia should have access to reliable information.

We will continue calling on Russia to abolish its repressive legislation concerning what they claim to be foreign agents. Any one of you would be considered undesirable or, more recently, wanted, and to be called undesirable or wanted in Russia opens the door to arbitrary detentions.

I think I have to finish my speech because maybe you have more important things to do in the coming moments. I know you are going to face important decisions, but I want to reiterate that Russia must cease its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, withdraw its military forces, as demanded also the United Nations General Assembly by an overwhelming majority of 141 Member States.

The international community has sent this message loud and clear, and I am very happy to see on this debate that we count on the support of the European Union Parliament.

  President. – The debate is closed. The vote will be held at the next part-session.

Written statements (Rule 171)

  Pirkko Ruohonen-Lerner (ECR), kirjallinen. – Venäjän niin kutsutut presidentinvaalit 15.–17. maaliskuuta olivat huolellisesti organisoitua huijausta, julmaa petosta ja kyynistä teatteriperformanssia. Todellisuudessa Venäjällä toisinajattelijat murskataan sortotoimenpitein, ja oppositio on vaiennettu tai ajettu maanpakoon.

Jatkaen barbaarista valloitus- ja tuhoamissotaansa miehittäjä järjesti tämän kyynisen vaaliperformanssinsa myös Ukrainalta väliaikaisesti ryöstämillään alueilla Krimillä, Donetskissa, Luhanskissa ja Zaporižžjassa. Euroopan turvallisuus- ja yhteistyöjärjestö Etyjiltä Venäjä ei halunnut vaalitarkkailijoita performanssiaan pilaamaan. Sen sijaan maa järjesti paikalle omat ”tarkkailijansa”. Näiden henkilöiden avulla Kreml yrittää maskeerata näytelmänsä näyttämään lainmukaisilta ja rehellisiltä vaaleilta.

Olemme ajan saatossa tottuneet siihen, että Venäjä rikkoo röyhkeästi kansainvälisiä sopimuksia, normeja ja ihmisoikeuksia. Maa on saatava vastuuseen rikoksistaan demokratiaa, ihmisyyttä ja kansojen suvereniteettia kohtaan. Meidän tulee antaa kaikki tukemme ukrainalaisille, jotka uhmaavat tätä pimeyttä. Ukrainan voitto avaa mahdollisuuden valoisampaan tulevaisuuteen myös Venäjän kansalle.

(The sitting was suspended at 17.05)

PRESIDENZA: ROBERTA METSOLA
President