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Berlin calls on Moscow to make Donbas unrecognized republics cancel local election

"We expect Moscow to use its influence so that separatists cancel this election," a German Foreign Ministry spokesperson said

© TASS/Stanislav Grigoriev

BERLIN, September 21. /TASS/. Berlin calls on Moscow to exert pressure on the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics (DPR and LPR) to hold local election in accordance with Ukrainian laws, Germany’s government spokesperson Steffen Seibert told a briefing on Monday.

The election in Donbas should be held in adherence with the Minsk agreements and Ukrainian laws, Seibert said adding that unilateral steps made by DPR and LPR authorities violate the Minsk accords. Holding their own local election not coordinated with Kiev will be "a serious violation of the Minsk agreements," the spokesperson stressed.

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According to Seibert, the whole process of preparing for and holding local election should be coordinated with the Contact Group and the vote should conform to the standards of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). He added that the foreign ministers of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine agreed on that at their last meeting in Berlin.

"We expect Moscow to use its influence so that separatists cancel this election," a German Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.

On Sunday, DPR envoy to the Contact Group Denis Pushilin said he will insist on the decision to organize local elections at the negotiations in Minsk due on September 22. "We shall touch upon the issue of elections," he told the Donetsk News Agency. "Of course, I believe, we will experience certain pressure due to the decisions head of the republic has made. But we have arguments to protect the position we have, as once again we are moving unilaterally in fulfilment of the Minsk accords."

DPR and LPR earlier said that Kiev does not fulfill its obligations in the framework of the Minsk agreements. The self-proclaimed republics have thus decided "to implement the agreements unilaterally" and hold local election on October 18 in Donetsk and November 1 in Luhansk. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has warned that local election not coordinated with Kiev can have "devastating consequences for the process of de-escalation in Donbas." Local election in Ukraine are scheduled for October 25.

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