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Crimea and Sevastopol

Sevastopol not to hold gubernatorial elections in 2014 - acting governor

SEVASTOPOL, April 10, /ITAR-TASS/. The federal Russian city of Sevastopol will not hold elections of its governor in 2014, acting city governor Alexey Chaly told deputies at a meeting of the city’s legislative assembly presidium on Thursday.

“There are certain legal nuances in line with which we are not a constituent member of the Russian Federation to the full. Technically, in line with the law, we will not be able to hold elections in 2014. There should be elected municipal power bodies for us to hold the elections, but there are none,” Chaly said.

Russia incorporated the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russians, on March 18 after a referendum two days earlier in which an overwhelming majority of Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and reunify with the Russian Federation.

The events followed a coup in Ukraine in February that occurred after months of anti-government protests, often violent. Crimea refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new self-proclaimed Ukrainian authorities, who appear unable to restrain radicals and ultranationalists. Moscow does not recognize the new leadership in Kiev either.

Work to integrate the Crimean Peninsula into Russia’s economic, financial, credit, legal, state power, military conscription and infrastructure systems is actively underway now that Crimea has become part of the Russian Federation.

Chaly emphasized that first of all, “legitimate power bodies should be formed in line with the laws of the Russian Federation in 2014”.

The acting Sevastopol governor said he would prefer the governor to be elected rather than appointed.

Chaly was approved as acting head of Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based, on April 1. During the transitional period, he is to define the structure and form the city’s state executive power bodies.

In the Soviet Union, Crimea used to be part of Russia until 1954, when Nikita Khrushchev, the first secretary of the USSR’s Communist Party, transferred it to Ukraine's jurisdiction as a gift.

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Crimea and Sevastopol

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