Putin's aide Surkov congratulates Pushilin and Pasechnik on their election victory
Vladislav Surkov, aide to the Russian President congratulated the leaders of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik on their election victory, said Alexey Chesnakov, the Director of the Political Conjuncture Center as quoted by TASS.
“The congratulatory letter said that the high voter turnout showed the world that proud and smart people, who believe in themselves and can defend themselves, live in the Donbas, and strongly oppose the policies of Kyiv officials,” TASS cites Chesnakov as saying.
Surkov also expressed confidence that the elected leaders “will do their best to improve the standard of living of people and to implement international commitments undertaken by the People’s Republics in 2014 to 2015.
“Elections" in the so-called DPR and LPR were held on November 11, despite the protests of Ukraine and the warnings of the international community. Denis Pushilin received 60.85% of the votes to win the elections in Donetsk, and Leonid Pasechnik won in Luhansk by receiving 68.3% of the votes.
Volodymyr Yelchenko, the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, said that elections could become the starting point for new Russian armed aggression. Western countries have condemned the election in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko expressed hope that new sanctions would be imposed against Russia because of these elections.