[ad_1]
Residents of eastern regions of Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatist rebels voted Sunday for local governments in elections denounced by Kiev and the West.
Elections were to appoint heads of government and legislature of members of the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, where separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since spring 2014 in a war that killed more than 10,000 people
Although a 2015 agreement on the end of the war calls for local elections Donetsk and Luhansk, critics including the President of Ukraine, the United States and the European Union, declare that the vote is illegitimate because it takes place without control of Ukraine.
But the separatists believe that this vote is a decisive step towards the establishment of a full-fledged democracy. the regions.
"This is another review of the public service, of the political position of the Donetsk Republic as a whole," said Denis Pushilin, head of the separatist regime of Donetsk since his predecessor, Alexander Zakharchenko, was killed in a bomb attack in a restaurant in August
His Luhansk counterpart, Leonid Pasechnik, said on Sunday that "we are a free republic, a free country" and denied the negative result of the polls in the evening. agreement signed in Minsk in 2015.
German and French leaders, who helped negotiate this agreement, rejected "illegal and illegitimate elections" … who took place today despite the many calls from the international community ".
"These are elections for entities that have no legitimacy under the Ukrainian constitution," said last week the US special envoy for Ukraine, Kurt Volker.
"The inhabitants of eastern Ukraine will be better off Ukraine is at peace rather than in a second-rate police state ruled by bandits and thugs, all subsidized by Russian taxpayers, "he said Sunday on Twitter.
The two regions reported a participation rate higher than 70% two hours earlier polling stations closed at 20 hours (1700 GMT).
On Sunday afternoon, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's spokesman said he had discussed the elections with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron at ceremonies commemorating the end of the First World War on Sunday.
After the meeting, Merkel and Macron declared that the holding of elections "supposedly" undermined the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and called on all parties to respect the cease fire and release political prisoners.
Germany, France and Ukraine belong to the so-called "Normandy" countries in search of a solution to the conflict. Russia is the fourth country in this format that has not been discussed for two years.
Andrei Yermolaev, badyst at think tank "New Ukraine" in Kiev, said "hold elections despite opinions of Kiev and the West". that the Kremlin completely controls the situation in the region and intends to use this "frozen conflict" as a lever of pressure on the Ukrainian authorities. "
Source link
