MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. The State Duma Committee on the Commonwealth of Independent States, Eurasian Integration and Relationswith Compatriots recommended the lower chamber of the Russian parliament to adopt a statement on non-recognition of the Ukrainian presidential vote results.

"At the Duma Council today, we will discuss a statement on non-recognition of the elections. Our committee approved it, we recommend adopting it, the matter is now up to the Council to decide," committee chair Leonid Kalashnikov told TASS on Monday.

"During the first round, the entire southeast of Ukraine, Donbass and all Ukrainians in Russia were deprived of the right to vote," he said. "This is about 5-6 million people, or one third of all voters who cast their ballot. For us, this is a sufficient reason not to recognize the legitimacy of those elections."

However, Kalashnikov added that even if the document is adopted, it does not necessarily mean that all kind of cooperation with Ukraine’s new leader will be ruled out.

On Sunday, Ukraine voted in the first round of the seventh presidential election in its history. The record number of candidates - 39 people - was registered.

With 33.73% of ballots counted the Servant of the People political party candidate Vladimir Zelensky holds the lead with 30.17% of the vote and current President Pyotr Poroshenko is the runner up, garnering 16.69%. The leader the Batkivshchyna party, Yulia Tymoshenko, trails third with 13.17%. She is followed by Yuri Boyko, candidate from the Opposition Platform - For Life, who has 11.44%. The last candidate in the top five is Anatoly Gritsenko of the Civil Position party with 7.06%. The final turnout stood at 63.52%.

Draft parliamentary statement

Russia's LDPR party has submitted a draft parliamentary statement, headlined "On non-recognition of the results of the Ukrainian presidential election," to the lower chamber of the Russian parliament on March 27.

The document says that "the due course of law during Ukraine’s presidential election is under question due to numerous serious violations and mistakes, committed by election commissions, which, as a result, failed to create necessary conditions for an equal and free vote."

"State Duma lawmakers believe that the widespread falsification of the results of the vote is intended to ensure the victory of a certain candidate," the document reads.

The authors mention a Ukrainian bill, signed into law on February 26, 2019, which bars Russian observers and international monitors with Russian citizenship from being accredited for the presidential election.

It also says that Russian lawmakers are deeply concerned by the fact that the election was held "amid an unfair election campaign with the use of dirty technologies that constitute a clear breach of international principles and norms."