MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. Moscow calls on all those interested in the stabilization of the situation in Ukraine to exert pressure on the authorities in Kiev to restore the truce, Russia’s Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Alexander Lukashevich told a meeting of the organization’s standing committee. The text of his speech has been posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday.
"We urge everyone who is interested in the stabilization of the situation in Ukraine to exert the necessary pressure on the Kiev authorities so that the truce achieved through great effort is restored and the political process develops further," the diplomat said.
"We hope that meetings of the Contact Group and its subgroups held in Minsk the other day will help bring the situation back into the de-escalation mainstream," he said. "We fully support the call for the immediate cessation of all actions incompatible with the existing agreements and efforts to reach a peaceful settlement of the conflict within the framework of the Minsk process."
Lukashevich also noted that Moscow supported the work of the Contact Group and its subgroups. "We hope that the negotiations on drafting a law on local elections in Donbas will acquire the necessary dynamics," he said. "Apparently — and this is evident from the recent report of the ODIHR [Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights] monitoring mission — the existing Ukrainian election legislation is not the best basis for holding elections in compliance with the relevant OSCE standards, as envisaged by the Package of Measures."
According to the diplomat, the election legislation in Ukraine needs to be improved. It is also necessary to coordinate with the Donetsk and Luhansk republics the timeframes for elections and enshrine them in law.