1ST LEAD Ukraine lambasts Russia for supporting separatists’ elections By …
Kyiv/Moscow (dpa) – Ukraine on Tuesday accused Russia of whipping up
tensions in the country‘s east by supporting “illegal” elections in
separatist-held territories.
“The holding of any vote on Ukrainian territory by the so-called
Donetsk and Luhansk people‘s Republics will hinder the peace
process,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebyinis said in Kyiv,
according to local news agencies.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier that Moscow will
recognize the November 2 elections, saying that they are an important
step to legitimizing the separatists.
Fighting between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in
eastern Ukraine has been waging since April despite a recent
ceasefire.
In an interview published on his ministry‘s website, Lavrov argued
that holding those elections is “among the main aspects of the Minsk
agreements.”
His comments were echoed by Andrei Purgin, a leader of the
separatists in Donetsk, who told Interfax that the elections will be
held “in absolute accordance” with the September 5 agreements signed
between Russia, Ukraine and the separatists.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko disagreed, calling the vote
“pseudo-elections.”
They “not only have nothing to do with the Minsk protocol .. but
blatantly contradict its letter and spirit. They threaten the entire
peace process,” Poroshenko said through his spokesman, Svyatoslav
Tseholko.
The European Union and the United States have called the planned vote
illegitimate and insist that local elections must be conducted under
Ukrainian law.
The so-called Minsk protocol said that early local elections must be
in accordance with a Ukrainian law that gives the separatist-held
territories special status.
The law, which was signed by President Petro Poroshenko on October
16, set the election for December 7.
Lavrov did say, however, that Moscow recognizes the Ukrainian
parliamentary elections conducted Sunday.
Sunday‘s elections are expected to bring a large majority for
pro-Western parties in the unicameral parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.
Preliminary results published Tuesday say that the People‘s Front of
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and the president‘s “Poroshenko
Bloc” party both got around 22 per cent of the vote.
However, projections in Ukrainian media suggest that Poroshenko‘s
party will gain a majority of parliamentary seats because it is
expected to win more single-mandate districts.
Under Ukraine‘s election system, half of the deputies are elected by
first-past-the-post voting.
Poroshenko on Monday held preliminary coalition talks with Yatsenyuk
and Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy, whose Samopomich party is expected to
become the third-strongest force with some 11 per cent.
Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko, who is standing for the People‘s
Front, said that his party is ready to become the basis of a
coalition.
“All democratic forces that entered the Rada should join,” Petrenko
said in a TV interview.
Also in parliament is the Russia-leaning Opposition Bloc, with 9 per
cent; the Radical Party of right-wing populist Oleh Lyashko with
about 7 per cent; and the Fatherland party of former prime minister
Yulia Tymoshenko with just above 5 per cent.