Russia held so-called "referendums" under the muzzles of machine guns to justify its presence on the territory of a foreign state. 

James Karuki, Permanent Representative of Great Britain to the United Nations, said this during his speech on September 27. 

"Russia's holding of pseudo-referendums in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine is a

blatant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and the UN Charter.

This process is illegal and illegitimate. This is blatant propaganda that tries to explain the presence of Russia on the sovereign territory of Ukraine.

We have seen these Russian techniques in Crimea.

Now it's being played out again. Disinformation, intimidation and fabrication. As my country's foreign minister said last week, we know that

President Putin is already rigging the results

," Karuki said. 

The ambassador of Great Britain emphasized that in 1991 these territories voted for the independence of Ukraine and in the presidential elections. 

"But in 1991, the

population of these regions voted for the independence of Ukraine, they supported President Zelensky in 2019.

Given the free expression of their will, their choice is obvious -

to be part of a free, independent, democratic Ukraine.

After the invasion, control over these regions was through violence, torture , filtering and forced deportation.

We have all seen the photos of soldiers with machine guns accompanying the ballot boxes during house-to-house rounds and forcing Ukrainians to participate in it.

Referendums held at gunpoint cannot be called free and fair," he explained Karuki. 

He also stressed that Putin should immediately stop the war against Ukraine. 

"A referendum on such a fundamental issue can be announced three days before it begins in a region where the war is ongoing - this is just a farce.

This is an attempt by Russia to illegally annex Ukrainian territories

, and we support the draft resolution presented by the USA and Albania. Now is a critical moment and no member of the UN should turn a blind eye to what the Russian Federation is doing.

If we allow Russia to change the borders of a sovereign state by force, then the entire world security system will be at risk.

These "Potemkin" referendums, as well as Putin's decision to mobilize men for this war, are showing that he accepts that the invasion is illegal. Putin must end this senseless war," said Britain's ambassador to the UN. 

We will remind you that the UN Security Council blasted Russia for "pseudo-referendums" in occupied Ukraine.

Read also:

  • Russia has "drawn" the results of its "referendums" in four regions of Ukraine

  • "There will be consequences": the EU is preparing sanctions for involvement in pseudo-referendums in Ukraine

  • With a passport and personal belongings: in occupied Mariupol, locals are called to the military commissariat