Ukrainian politician: Russia plays Transnistria’s scenario in Donbas
Deputy Minister for the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, Georgiy Tuka, announced on Hromadske Radio that Russia is organizing so-called “elections” in the occupied Donbas to repeat Transnistria’s scenario.
The official noted that Russia organized “elections” in the “occupied territories” of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in order to legitimize the leaders of the “republics”. Thus, the Russian Federation is trying to push Ukrainian authorities into direct negotiations, same as it was once done in the occupied territory of Moldova, Transnistria.
“This is another threat organized by Kremlin. Pay attention to how the pro-Kremlin forces have become more active in the past six months. The first step was made by Boyko and Rabinovich (agreement on uniting Yuriy Boyko’s and Vadim Rabinovich’s parties), which, by the way, demonstrated their unification today. They introduce to the public the topic about the need for so-called direct negotiations. This is the very scenario that was once successfully implemented by Moscow in Moldova, when in fact they were forced to start direct negotiations with Tiraspol. We all saw the results, "- said Tuka.
He added that with these pseudo-elections, Moscow is trying to legitimize the militant leaders.
“Not only in Ukraine, but also in the EU, nobody would ever sit down at the negotiating table with such personalities as Zakharchenko (the murdered leader of the DPR), as Plotnitsky (former leader of LPR). It was necessary to replace them," said Tuka.
On November 11, pro-Russian militants organized "elections" in the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions which are not under Ukraine’s control.
In turn, the Russian Federation stated that the “election” in LPR and DPR would be recognized depending on the result.
Ukraine has opened criminal proceedings for organization of elections in the territories of the Donbas controlled by the pro-Russian militants.