MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Moscow believes that last Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Ukraine were valid despite many violations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday.
“The way I see it, the elections did take place, although not in the whole territory of Ukraine,” he said. “I believe that we shall recognize the results of these elections, because it is very important for us to see Ukraine at last has authorities not involved in internal rifts or tug-of-war, pulling Ukraine to the West or to the East, but busy with the real problems that the country is facing."
“The early returns from the Ukrainian parliamentary elections indicate that the Ukrainian people have voted,” Lavrov said. “We leave aside the many violations that occurred during the preparations for the elections and the methods of coercion that were applied to a number of candidates and the measures to bar other political forces from the political process and participation in elections. Nevertheless, the voting did take place."
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“Particularly, the solution of social and economic problems and the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which in addition to the ceasefire and the disengagement of the parties, the withdrawal of heavy weaponry, envision priority attention to humanitarian problems in Donbass and mobilizing efforts for the restoration of the economy and infrastructure in the south-east,” he concluded.