Continued deterioration of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine

Council of Europe release on Secretary General Alain Berset's yearly report on human rights in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia, covering April 2025 to March 2026 and presented to the Committee of Ministers on 9 September 2026. The report states that attempts to conduct the State Duma elections scheduled for 20 September in the occupied territories would be incompatible with fundamental principles of international law, would aggravate the consequences of the full-scale invasion and would jeopardise peace efforts. It describes an entrenched occupation marked by systemic human-rights abuses, including the forcible extension of Russian citizenship, and notes that lack of access impedes independent monitoring.