Slovakia condemns Russia's plan to annex additional parts of Ukraine and will not recognise referendums designed to furnish the annexations with the veneer of legitimacy, chief of Slovak diplomacy Rastislav Kacer stated on Wednesday. Such referendums, "carried out by illegitimate bodies during military occupation by a foreign power" would fly in the face of elementary democratic principles, Ukraine's Constitution, international law and their only outcome would be the "further escalation of the conflict", said the ministry press department.
Foreign Minister Kacer finds it paradoxical and also "incredibly audacious" that Russian President Vladimir Putin's statement announcing "further escalation of the aggression against the neighbour" was made on International Peace Day.
According to Slovak President Zuzana Caputova, Wednesday's statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin once again confirmed that Russia is not attempting to protect the peace but poses a direct danger to it. Caputova noted that Putin's statement has nothing to do with the effort to make peace - on the contrary, it escalates the situation, caused by the Russian invasion to Ukraine, even more. Caputova also condemned the attempts to alter borders of other states in violation of international law. "Referendums should express the free will of the people - not the will of the occupiers," she said. The Russian president announced partial mobilisation in his country on Wednesday ahead of four Ukrainian regions occupied by the Russians holding referendums on joining Russia. The aim of the mobilisation is to call up 300,000 reservists of the Russian armed forces.
