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Developments in eastern Ukraine

DPR parliament sends its speaker to resignation, Pushilin appointed acting speaker

Pushilin’s first decree as acting speaker was to dismiss head of the Council’s administrative department Alexei Alexandrov

Andrei Purgin Sergey Savostiyanov/TASS

Andrei Purgin

© Sergey Savostiyanov/TASS

MOSCOW, September 4. /TASS/. Speaker of the People’s Council (parliament) of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Andrei Purgin has been sent to resignation. His duties will be performed by deputy speaker Denis Pushilin, the Donetsk News Agency said late on Friday citing Pushilin’s statement.

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"An initiative group of lawmakers called an extraordinary meeting of the DPR People’s Council. Seventy out of 73 lawmakers voted to remover Andrei Purgin from the post of the People’s Council speaker. Deputy speaker Denis Pushilin was appointed acting speaker," the statement said.

Pushilin’s first decree as acting speaker was to dismiss head of the Council’s administrative department Alexei Alexandrov. Explaining this move, Pushilin said that over the period when Alexandrov had occupied his post "lawmakers and employees of the People’s Council had to face a number of problems, from management ones to wage arrears." "Moreover, instead of doing his job, Alexei Alexandrov has made a number of political statements running counter to the policy of the entire state," Pushilin said. "To my big regret, speaker of the People’s Council Andrei Purgin has fallen under the influence of this man."

"The last straw was today’s attempt to frustrate the meeting of the People’s Council when lawmakers had to listen to knowingly false statements geared to whip up tension and destabilize the situation," Pushilin said.

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Eastern Ukraine

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The Russian leader expressed confidence that the the 12th International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues "will bolster cooperation for the mutual benefit of our countries and peoples"

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Swiss conference on Ukraine undermines European security — Russian diplomat

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US nuclear facilities in Northern Europe to become targets in Russia-NATO clash — MFA

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Oleg Kononenko and Nikolay Chub are expected to spend 6 hours and 52 minutes outside the orbital outpost

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Russian Embassy to Austria denied participation in ceremony at Nazi concentration camp

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Azerbaijan, Armenia have installed 20 border markers so far

Expert groups from the two countries continue their work

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TASS, SMI2 to launch positive content aggregator on Internet

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US effectively dooms Ukraine by its new decisions, Russian envoy says

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Houthi leader says group attacked more than 100 ships in Red, Arabian seas so far

Ansar Allah strikes one ship every two days, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said

French neo-Nazi ringleader liquidated near Avdeyevka — sources

There is confirmed evidence of his connections with French secret services