Journalist: US and EU intend to recognize spring elections in separatist-held territories of Ukraine
According to information from inside the circles of the Russian President’s confidant, Vladislav Surkov, and the United States Special Representative for Ukrainian Negotiations, Kurt Volker, Surkov and Volker have already agreed on conducting Ukrainian Parliamentary elections this Spring in the separatist-held territories of Ukraine, under the oversight of the OSCE monitoring mission and with open borders, as Sergey Garmash, a journalist from Donetsk relayed to InfoResist news website.
“The U.S. and Europe allegedly have agreed to recognize it [election], which I think will not be possible because elections can only be authorized by the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine), and the recent vote on a bill regarding the reintegration of the Donbas demonstrated that the current Parliament would not support elections in the separatist-held area, particularly after recognizing it as an occupied territory,” Garmash said.
The journalist said it was hard to foretell whether 2018 would become a watershed year for the Donbas and Ukraine as a whole.
“I see the U.S. toughening its position on this subject and putting more pressure on Russia to pull out from here. Will this year become a game-changer for Russia? The sanctions will definitely play a crucial role, including new sanctions that will be released in February. Honestly, after Russia increased its military spending by 42% it does not look like they are going to pull out of the Donbas without receiving something. They will pull out if they receive what they want, and what they want is control over Ukraine. With this goal in mind, they might pull out after the implementation of the political part of the Minsk Agreements, which is unlikely to happen after the Parliament vote on the occupied territories. So, they [Russian military] will not go away easily,” the journalist concluded.