Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted a Statement on the Russian Duma elections

Press release 21 October, 2021

On 20 October 2021, the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted a Statement on the Elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation held in September 2021.

‘Made under the pretext of the epidemiological situation in the country, the decision of the Russian authorities to severely restrict international election observation missions, in particular the missions of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in their ability to observe the elections has seriously undermined openness and transparency as essential conditions for democratic and fair elections. Lithuania pursues a value-based foreign policy both in word and in action and will not turn a blind eye to such phenomena in Russia as abuse of the registration procedures to deprive over a hundred candidates of participating in the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation; imprisonment of Alexei Navalny and other critics of the Kremlin; designation of non-governmental and other globally recognised organisations as “foreign agents”, “undesirable organizations” and “extremist organizations”; and putting restrictions on their activities or prohibiting them altogether,’ says Dr. Laima Liucija Andrikienė. Member of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs and mover of the Statement.

Having considered reports by independent experts, civil society organisations, local observers and the media on the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the Committee on Foreign Affairs holds the opinion that the elections were neither free nor fair, failed to comply with international law, demonstrated Russia’s continued departure from democratic standards, and attested to the worrying trend of growing levels of autocracy in the country.

The Committee Statement strongly condemns the holding of elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation in the illegally annexed Crimea as well as in Donetsk and Luhansk Regions (Oblasts) of Ukraine occupied by Russia. The Statement calls on the international community to express a firm position on the incompatibility of the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation on 17–19 September 2021 with democratic principles and international law.

The full text of the Statement can be found here.

Information prepared by the Office of the Committee on Foreign Affairs