US denounces election in eastern Ukraine as ‘sham’
The United States has denounced an election held in eastern Ukraine over the weekend as “sham”, saying it was illegal and illegitimate.
On Sunday, the people in Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions went to the polls to elect their leaders and parliamentarians.
The United States had said that it would not recognize the elections in Ukraine’s eastern regions, where the United Nations says over 4,000 people have been killed.
On Monday, the White House said in a statement, “The United States condemns the illegitimate, so-called ‘elections’ held on Sunday by Russia-backed separatists in parts of Donetsk and Lugansk.”
“These sham elections contravened Ukraine’s constitution, the law on ‘special status,’ and the most basic electoral norms,” it added.
The two mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk have been the scene of deadly clashes between pro-Russia protesters and the Ukrainian army since Kyiv’s military operation started in mid-April.
Violence intensified in May after the two flashpoint regions held local referendums, where residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence from Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation.
Meanwhile, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said “the United States deplores and does not recognize yesterday’s so-called separatist elections in eastern Ukraine, nor do we recognize any of the leaders chosen in this illegal vote.”
She also warned Moscow that “if Russia were to recognize the so-called elections, it would only serve to isolate it further.”
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko threatened to abolish a peace plan with pro-Russian people in the east, after held the election in defiance of Kyiv.
In an interview with Press TV on Wednesday, Steven D. Kelley, a former CIA contractor, said the United States has no moral authority to criticize the elections.
“The US State Department has no right to criticize the elections that are going on in the NovoRussia (Novorossiya), which should never be referred to as eastern Ukraine again because of the genocide being committed against them by the insane Nazi junta government in Kyiv,” Kelley said.
“The United States has a record of supporting elections in occupied countries, such as in Iraq, which certainly be a good example of an illegitimate election,” he added.
GJH/GJH