MOSCOW, October 29. /TASS/. The holding of elections in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in southeast Ukraine on November 2 gives a chance to switch over the situation in the embattled regions to constructive dialogue, and Russia will contribute to that, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
It also said that the position the leaders of self-defense forces of the two republics have taken on the November 2 elections is justified and stands fully in line with the accords reached at conferences of the Contact Group for Ukraine in Minsk in September.
“All the references to the law on a special administrative regime for the aforesaid territories, which President Poroshenko signed October 16 and which set the date of elections at December 7, run counter to the Minsk accords,” the ministry said.
“Prior to the start of the Minsk process, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics’ leaders publicly outlined their negotiating positions, which in particular stress that the holding on those territories of free elections on the principles of people’s self-governance will open the way for joint work to preserve the common economic, cultural and political space of Ukraine,” the statement said.
“Russia will contribute to confirmation of this policy by the leaders of the southeast who win the elections,” the ministry said. “We expect specific actions on bona fide fulfillment of the Minsk agreements both from the Ukrainian authorities and their Western partners, as well as the OSCE,” it said.
“Today there is a chance to use the November 2 elections not for a thoughtless and unjustified escalation of confrontation but for transfer of the situation to the constructive channel of dialogue based on mutual respect and search for compromises on the basis of balance of legitimate interests of all Ukrainian sides, just like the documents signed within the framework of the Minsk process require,” the ministry said.