EU Vows New Sanctions After Russia Holds Duma Elections in Occupied Ukrainian Territory

The European Union has said it will impose new sanctions on organisers and candidates connected to Russia’s State Duma elections, held on 18-20 September 2026 partly inside Ukrainian territory that Russia has occupied by force. In a statement issued on behalf of the bloc, the EU said it “does not and will never recognise” the holding of the vote, or its results, in Crimea, Sevastopol and occupied parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Sanctions promised, details to follow

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said those “involved in organising these sham elections or standing as candidates in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine,” as well as anyone responsible for undermining fair elections inside Russia itself, would be sanctioned, though Brussels had not published a specific list by the time of the statement. The bloc noted that Russia had excluded OSCE observers from monitoring the vote and that the opposition Yabloko party’s candidates had been kept off the federal list, and it described the elections as a violation of international law, the UN Charter and Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The statement repeated the EU’s call for a “full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire” and a complete Russian military withdrawal from Ukraine.

Kyiv acts first with its own sanctions

Ukraine moved more quickly than Brussels. On 26 September, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree, based on a decision by Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, sanctioning 44 people described as acting in Russia’s interests and facilitating the occupation of the affected regions, including some who had previously sat on Russian-installed local councils. Vladyslav Vlasiuk, Ukraine’s Presidential Commissioner for Sanctions Policy, said “occupation does not confer any sovereignty,” adding that “neither ‘elections,’ ‘referendums,’ nor ‘electoral districts’ change that status.”

Why it matters

The episode illustrates how Moscow’s push to normalise its territorial claims through domestic institutions like parliamentary elections is being met with a parallel, coordinated diplomatic and legal response from Kyiv and its Western partners. Whether the EU’s sanctions list matches the scope of Ukraine’s own measures, and how quickly it is agreed among all 27 member states, will be an early test of the bloc’s unity on Ukraine policy as the war grinds on.