Moscow announced on Sunday night that President Vladimir Putin’s party had won an election organized and in annexed territories of Ukraine with more than 70% of the vote, a poll that Kyiv and its allies consider “illegal”, AFP and Agerpres reported.

The Central Election Commission of Russia announced on Sunday evening that the United Russia party of the President of the Russian Federation won the first place in these regional elections in the four annexed territories of Ukraine.

The head of the election commission, Ella Pamfilova, congratulated the elections, which were held “dynamically, with minor violations.”

After three days of elections, from Friday to Sunday, Moscow is trying to legitimize its annexations in Ukraine through organized voting in the occupied territories in the east and south.

Despite the sharp condemnation of the West, in September 2022, after “referendums” not recognized by the international community, Russia announced the annexation of four Ukrainian territories that it controls only partially – Zaporizhzhia, Kherson Oblast, Donetsk and Luhansk.

The election comes months before a presidential election scheduled for early 2024 that could keep Vladimir Putin in power until 2030.

In Russia, regional elections were held to appoint governors, regional deputies and elected municipal officials.

Online voting was possible in several Russian regions, including the capital Moscow.