US advises residents of LPR and DPR to boycott elections in Donbas
The US embassy in Ukraine advises residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk territories which are not under Ukraine’s control to boycott “illegal” elections, that will be held on November 11th.
“While Ukraine is taking positive steps to foster peace, Russia is worsening the conflict by organizing sham “elections.” Residents of eastern Ukraine should boycott these “elections” that do not follow the Minsk agreements or Ukrainian legislation,” the Embassy wrote on Facebook.
Pro-Russian authorities of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions plan to hold elections for the heads of the DPR and LPR, and so-called “national councils” on November 11th.
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 bacause these elections.