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Russian State Duma Election 2016

Russian MP says Ukraine’s calls not to recognize Russian elections are ridiculous and void

Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution on non-recognition of the legitimacy of Russia’s parliamentary elections over voting in Crimea

© Egor Aleev/TASS

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MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/. A senior Russian lawmaker said on Tuesday the Ukrainian parliament’s calls not to recognize Sunday’s elections to the Russian State Duma lower parliament house are "ridiculous and void."

Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, or Parliament, passed a resolution on non-recognition of the legitimacy of Russia’s parliamentary elections over voting in Crimea. The document won support from 264 Ukrainian lawmakers whereas 226 votes are needed to pass a bill or a resolution. The resolution says that Rada lawmakers will turn to the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly, to parliaments of foreign states, parliamentary assemblies and international organizations with a "call not to recognize legitimacy of the elections to the Russian seventh State Duma."

"Rada’s calls not to recognize the elections to the Russian State Duma were quite predictable but they are ridiculous and void anyway," Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the State Duma committee for the affairs of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Eurasian integration and relations with compatriots, told journalists. "They can influence nothing and have nothing to do with the reality."

He said it is obvious Ukraine’s parliament passes such statements at the suggestion of "Western patrons."

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Ukraine’s parliament refuses to recognize legitimacy of Russian elections over Crimea

"I am sure such statements are written not in Kiev. I would repeat it once again that the present-day Ukraine is a territory of external management and many decision, especially those of the anti-Russian nature, are taken at the suggestion of Western patrons," Slutsky said.

"And naturally, today’s calls of the Verkhovna Rada, like many of its statements of the past two years, are beyond all international law norms," he added.

Elections to the State Duma, or Russia’s lower house of Parliament, were held on September 18 in a split system: 225 members of parliament were elected by party tickets, while the other 225 were elected in one-seat constituencies. With 99.38% of ballots counted, Russia’s ruling United Russia party is winning 54.18% of the vote. It is followed by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, of CPRF, with 13.35% of vote, LDPR (13.16%), and A Just Russia (6.21%).

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Duma election 2016

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