MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. Kiev will have to reckon with the legitimate authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR, respectively), whether it likes it or not. Vyacheslav Nikonov, a political analyst and head of the education committee of the Russian State Duma lower parliament house, told TASS late on Sunday, commenting on the election results.
“As for whether Kiev wants to maintain dialogue or not, these are the authorities in Donetsk and Lugansk de facto,” he said.
“The authorities elected now are in no way less legitimate that they were at the moment of the minsk talks.”
“One may take no notice of them /the DPR and LPR elected heads/, one may ignore them, but they will not vanish or cease to be legitimate,” Nikonov noted. On the contrary, the elections “will make them legitimate in the eyes of their peoples,” he said, adding that there were no other top officials either in the Donetsk or in the Lugansk People’s Republics.
“So, whether the Kiev authorities like it or not, they will have to reckon with them /the leaders of the DPR and LPR/,” he stressed. “I don’t think they will be recognized but Kiev’s ostrich policy would look ridiculous in this situation.”
Frants Klintsevich, the first deputy chairman of the United Russia faction in the State Duma, said that the elections in Donetsk and Lugansk had been valid, despite the attempts to frustrate them.
“The very fact of organizing elections in the most harsh - wartime, as a matter of fact - conditions proves that people in these republics support the existing authorities,” he said, adding that the elections had legitimized them. “And we will contact with the authorities in the DPR and LPR as with any other legitimate authorities,” he noted.
Dwelling on Kiev’s relations with the authorities in the Donets and Lugansk republics, he said he cited a proverb “a love comes with habit.”
“The more so as there are no other option for Kiev to maintain a dialogue with, but it will have to in any event,” Klintsevich said.