In a letter addressed today to the head of Portuguese diplomacy, João Gomez Cravinho, seen by Lusa, Pavlo Sadokha thanked Lisbon’s position in not recognizing the annexation of four regions in Ukraine, following the Russian invasion in February of last year, which led to local and regional elections being held on September 10 next. But he warned of the damage caused to Portugal’s image by the presence of Manuel Pires da Rocha, a municipal representative in Coimbra for the Communist Party.
“We therefore ask the Government of the Portuguese Republic to take a position with regard to this issue and the strange position of the aforementioned deputy in the Municipal Assembly of Coimbra, who either on the instructions of the party organization of which he is the agent of the incident, or because of irresponsibility or desire for heroism,” Pavlo Sadokha wrote. “It contributed to distorting the image that Portugal left with the Ukrainian people and the international community.”
The head of the Association of Ukrainians in Portugal quoted the Foreign Minister as saying that the annexations, issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin in September last year, of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhya regions were a “flagrant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty.” principles set forth in the Charter of the United Nations” which “Portugal does not and will not recognize.”
In this sense, he claimed that the visit of the Communist Party deputy constitutes a “clear violation” of Ukrainian and international laws, “and therefore cooperates with the propaganda and theatrical maneuvers promoted by the invading force.”
Sadokha also referred to the “huge and unprecedented sanctions imposed by the European Union against Russia” and expressed her gratitude for Portugal’s support for Ukraine and the visits made by the Portuguese Minister to this country.
Also today, the Center for Democratic Integrity (CID), an NGO that analyzes attempts by authoritarian regimes to politically influence societies, reported that it had identified 34 non-Russian foreigners with whom the Kremlin (Russia’s presidency) had partnered to monitor abuses. Elections in those occupied territories.
The Criminal Investigation Department said in a statement: “By illegally entering Ukrainian territory, all ‘international observers’ violated Ukrainian laws, and we call on the relevant national authorities to inform their citizens of the consequences they may face for their participation in Russian propaganda efforts.” .
The CID recognizes that it is not possible to determine the exact number of “international observers” involved in the operation, but estimates that the Kremlin organized four groups of up to 10 elements in the occupied regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhya. However, at least 34 have been identified, including from Portugal, Brazil and Mozambique.
Last Sunday, September 10, Russia held regional and municipal elections, in a vote that extended to include the regions it annexed to Ukraine, despite the condemnation of Kiev and the general international community.
Voting, which began on September 8, included some areas of the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014, and the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhya, which Russia annexed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Kiev and its allies, especially the European Union and the United States, considered the elections in the occupied Ukrainian territories illegal and would not have any legal consequences.
