UNITED NATIONS, October 30. /TASS/. Russia’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said on Wednesday Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s statement that elections in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics run counter to the Minsk agreements are “rather unreasoned.”
“I think this is a rather unreasoned statement. He should not have come out with such a statement now,” he told TASS, adding however that the Russian side did not plan to raise this issue in contact with Ban Ki-moon.
The Russian diplomat expressed concern that the secretary general’s words would be used by Kiev to whip up tensions around this situation. “It will be very deplorable and dangerous if this statement is somehow used by the Ukrainian “party of war” to provoke the situation in eastern Ukraine. It will be the most regretful thing,” he said.
On Wednesday, the United Nations secretary general came out with a statement where he expressed regret over plans to hold elections of local authorities in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics on November 2. He said such elections ran counter to the Minsk protocol and memorandum.
Shortly after that, the Russian foreign ministry said that “the militias’ position on elections on November 2 was absolutely legitimate and complied with the time parameters agreed in Minsk agreements.”
Meanwhile, the mass media that provided footage of Ban’s statement, said in their comment that he had called to reject plans to hold elections in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, despite the fact that the text of the communiquй had no such words.