Ukraine sanctions 44 people over Russia’s Duma “elections” in occupied territories

What happened

On September 26 President Volodymyr Zelensky signed decree No. 960/2026 enacting a National Security and Defence Council decision to sanction people involved in organising illegal “elections” to Russia’s State Duma in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, the Office of the President said. According to Espreso, the Council adopted the decision on September 17, and the decree took effect on the day it was published.

Who was sanctioned

The package targets 44 individuals who, according to the Presidential Office, act in Russia’s interests and support the occupation in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, Crimea and Sevastopol. Some of them have already been “elected” as so-called deputies of illegally formed local councils in the occupied territories.

Those named include propagandist Iryna Kuksenkova and former Ukrainian lawmaker Yurii Onyshchuk, who the office says began collaborating with the occupiers after Melitopol was captured. UA.NEWS reports that Kuksenkova is a war correspondent for Russia’s Channel One who, according to Ukraine’s military intelligence, has worked systematically in the occupied territories, while Onyshchuk now heads the regional branch of the “A Just Russia – For Truth” party in occupied Zaporizhzhia. The list also includes candidates put forward by Russian parties in occupied Crimea.

Under the Council’s decision, the restrictions include asset freezes, a halt to trade operations and a ban on technology transfers, among other measures.

Why Ukraine rejects the vote

Kyiv says such “elections” are illegitimate, and that their results and all related documents have no legal basis and grossly violate international law.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, the president’s adviser and commissioner for sanctions policy, set out the legal argument: “International humanitarian law, in particular the Hague Regulations and the Geneva Convention, obliges the occupying state to respect the laws in force in the occupied territory. Occupation confers no sovereignty.” He recalled that the UN General Assembly has repeatedly affirmed Ukraine’s territorial integrity: in 2014 regarding Crimea, and in 2022, when 143 states condemned the attempted annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and declared it invalid. “No ‘elections’, ‘referendums’ or ‘districts’ change that status,” he said.

How the vote was held

According to the Presidential Office, quoted by LB.ua, the so-called elections involved mass falsification, forced voting and pre-fabricated turnout figures. The office says Russia is trying to legitimise its war crimes and use the imitation of an electoral process to entrench control over captured territory. Ukrinform notes that residents were pressured to publicly demonstrate loyalty to the occupation regime. The Duma vote ended on September 20, and Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry condemned it.

What next

The Council’s decision instructs the Foreign Ministry to inform the EU, the United States and other countries of the restrictions and to raise the question of similar sanctions. Vlasiuk said the information will be shared with partners so they can align sanctions in their own jurisdictions.

The EU countries, the UK, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have already refused to recognise and have condemned the “elections” in the occupied territories. “Our sanctions, and later our partners’ sanctions, are the proper legal assessment of all these ‘elections’ and of everyone who took part in them,” Vlasiuk added.