The bloc\u2019s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, ignored the 1,600 drones launched by Ukraine as over 60 million people cast their ballots<\/p>\n
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has lashed out at the results of Russia\u2019s parliamentary election, dismissing it as a \u201cveneer of democracy.\u201d The senior EU official, a noted Russia hawk who was appointed, not elected, to her post in 2024, made no mention of the 1,600 drones Ukraine launched into Russia during the vote.
\nHer claims of democratic dysfunction did not include Ukraine\u2019s own indefinitely suspended elections, but stuck to a vote whereby some 60 million people cast ballots across 11 time zones.
\nIn a post on X on Monday, Kallas targeted the three-day elections in which the ruling United Russia party retained a commanding parliamentary majority with nearly 58% of the party-list vote, well ahead of its rivals, according to preliminary results. Turnout exceeded 59% from 51.7% in 2021, according to Central Election Commission chief Ella Pamfilova.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Kremlin reacts to Ukraine\u2019s attack on Russian elections<\/p>\n
Kallas claimed that \u201cthe so-called Duma elections marked another major setback for Russian democracy,\u201d adding that \u201ctheir outcome was never in doubt.\u201d She further accused Moscow of silencing its critics, stressing that \u201cthe veneer of democracy is all that remains in Russia.\u201d
\nKallas also claimed to have \u201cproposed measures against those facilitating these sham elections in occupied Ukrainian territories.\u201d The EU said separately that it would never recognize voting held in Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson regions \u2013 all of which voted to join Russia in public referendums in 2014 and 2022.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Russia votes: Ruling party on course to secure majority after millions cast ballots<\/p>\n
Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the UK issued a joint statement likewise describing the voting in those territories as a \u201csham.\u201d
\nHowever, neither Kallas nor other Kiev\u2019s backers made mention of a huge Ukrainian drone raid on Moscow amid the election. The attack \u2013 which Russian officials said involved more than 1,600 drones and was aimed at derailing the vote \u2013 killed two civilians in the capital suburbs and damaged an oil refinery, residential buildings, and civilian infrastructure. Ukrainian strikes in frontline regions also damaged dozens of buildings housing election commissions, according to local officials.
\nKallas was ridiculed by social media users over the fact that she herself was not elected by EU voters to the position, having taken office as the EU\u2019s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy in December 2024 after serving as Estonian prime minister and a member of the European Parliament.
\nKallas and Kiev\u2019s Western backers have consistently refrained from calling on Ukraine to hold its own presidential election, after Vladimir Zelensky\u2019s term expired more than two years ago and he refused to call a new vote, citing martial law. Russia has since declared him \u201cillegitimate,\u201d arguing that Zelensky\u2019s dubious status complicates any eventual peace settlement.
\nRussian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to the election criticism by mocking Kallas\u2019s earlier call for EU states not to recognize the Russian results, saying that \u201cEU countries had stopped recognizing Kallas herself a long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The bloc\u2019s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, ignored the 1,600 drones launched by Ukraine as over 60 million people cast their ballots EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has lashed out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t