The European Union has imposed sanctions on 77 people involved in Russian State Duma voting conducted in Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia, treating participation in the September elections as support for the occupation.
The list includes 74 candidates who stood for parties in occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, as well as Crimea and Sevastopol. Three members of Russia’s Central Election Commission were added for their role in organising the voting.
The Council said the elections breached Ukrainian law and international law, including the United Nations Charter. It has refused to recognise either the process or its results in territory internationally recognised as part of Ukraine.
Each listed person is subject to an EU asset freeze and a ban on entering or transiting through the bloc. EU citizens and companies are prohibited from making funds, financial assets or other economic resources available to them. Those consequences arise from an administrative foreign-policy measure, not a criminal judgment.
The legal theory is narrower than a general sanction on political participation inside Russia. The Council tied the listings to candidates and officials whose activity was connected with elections organised in occupied territory, saying their involvement helped give institutional form to an annexation the EU regards as unlawful.
The measure follows an EU statement rejecting the September 18–20 voting and a separate round of sanctions aimed at repression of Russia’s domestic opposition. It was adopted through Council Decision 2026/2291 of October 12, amending the sanctions framework created after Russia’s 2014 actions against Ukraine.
