Israel says won’t recognize Russia's annexation vote in Ukraine
Washington also vowed to 'never' recognize the results of Moscow's 'diabolical scheme'
Israel's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it would not recognize the results of Russian referendums held in occupied Ukrainian regions.
“Israel recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," the ministry's statement said, in a move that could heighten tensions with Moscow; Jerusalem has sought to maintain relations with Russia despite its criticism of the invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow and pro-Russian authorities of the four occupied regions in eastern Ukraine said on Tuesday that the majority of the population voted in favor of annexation, according to the first results of the "referendums," denounced in advance as a “sham” by Kyiv and its Western allies.
The Russian Electoral Commission also said that between 97 and 98 percent of the eligible voters backed the annexation after the partial counting of votes in polling stations in Russia, where hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees were called to vote.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that the West will never recognize Russia's annexation of Ukrainian territory.
"We and many other countries have already been crystal clear. We will not - indeed, we will never - recognize the annexation of Ukrainian territory by Russia," Blinken told reporters.
Blinken repeated President Joe Biden's threat that the United States "will impose additional swift and severe costs on Russia" for going ahead with the referendums.
"It's important to remember what's going on here. Russia invaded Ukraine, seized territory and is engaged in a diabolical scheme on some of the territory it seized where it has moved the local populace out," he said.