For the first time since Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, it held elections on the territory of the disputed peninsula.

According to the Atlantic Council, the elections have been a source of contention between Russia and the international community. OSCE election observers refused to monitor the polls in Crimea, and the US and EU condemned them on September 18 as being both illegal and illegitimate. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland announced the illegality of the Russian parliamentary elections in occupied Crimea, and also condemned the large-scale provision of Russian passports to Ukrainian citizens, and the organization of electronic voting in Donbas. Turkey also does not recognize the results of the Russian parliamentary elections, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced on its website.