The European Parliament refused to recognize Putin as the legitimate president of the Russian Federation, and called the elections held in March this year a "farce.'' At the same time, the word "president'' is deliberately avoided in texts referring to the Russian dictator.

This was reported by DW.

Thus, a resolution in which the EU refused to recognize the results of the presidential election in Russia and called on EU member states to refuse to cooperate with Putin was adopted on Thursday, April 25.

493 MEPs voted in favor, 11 voted against, and 18 abstained.

"The so-called presidential elections in Russia were held in an atmosphere of fear and repression and in the context of an illegal aggressive war against Ukraine [...]. During these so-called elections, there were no alternative candidates, no free media, no independent observers, no political freedoms. Accordingly, the so-called elections are illegitimate and undemocratic," the resolution says.

In addition, the European Parliament called on EU member states and the international community not to recognize the election results either in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or in Russia itself, and to limit relations with Putin.

The parliamentarians emphasized that holding elections in the occupied territories was a blatant violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and international law, as "people were forced to vote in the presence of armed Russian soldiers."

The deputies also emphasized the courage of "thousands of Russians who are protesting against the Putin regime and seeking democracy."

They noted that the Noon Against Putin rally gathered crowds that expressed "anger at and opposition to the Kremlin regime and the farce it presented as an election."

The European Parliament also called on EU member states to "provide humanitarian visas and other support to Russian dissidents."

"It was not clear until the last moment whether the European Parliament would have time to initiate the resolution before Putin's presidential term ends on May 7. My task was to keep this issue on the agenda in the factions, to coordinate MEPs, to make the case for this decision," said the EU affairs officer at Free Russia Foundation and a Bulgarian non-staff advisor at the European Parliament, expert Petar Tanev.

Earlier, we wrote about how the world reacted to Putin's victory and who congratulated the dictator.