BERLIN, November 3. /TASS/. German and Italian officials said on Monday their governments did not recognize elections of presidents and deputies of republican legislatures that were held on Sunday in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

Germany does not recognize the results of elections in both republics and finds them to be illegitimate, the German government’s officials spokesman Steffen Seibert told a news conference on Monday.

He echoed earlier claims by EU officials that the voting in the DPR and the LPR had complicated the efforts to tap a solution to the Ukrainian crisis. In the light of it, the statements by Russian officials on respect for and recognition of results of these elections sound were difficult to understand, Seibert said.

He indicated that, from the point of view of the German authorities, the elections ran counter to Ukrainian legislation and to the Minsk accords reached in September.

Also, Seibert claimed that the way in which the voting procedures had been held was highly questionable.

Italy does not recognize the results of elections in the DPR and LPR, the country’s new Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Monday.

“Implementation of the September 5 and September 19 Minsk accords remains the sole guarantee of stability in Ukraine and the entire region,” he said. “There is no alternative to political resolution of the crisis and the Italian government remains committed to the positions reaffirmed in the course of the Asia and Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Milan on October 16 and October 17.”

Views on elections in east Ukraine around the world

The first elections of Presidents and legislators in the DPR and LPR was watched by representatives of the US, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia and some other countries. They said upon the end of voting they had not seen any major violations and the elections stood fully in line with European electoral practices.

The government in Kiev speaks about illegitimacy of elections in the two unrecognized republics, with the US and the EU supporting the claim. EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said the EU had no plans to recognize the outcome of the elections in East Ukraine.

The US, which said the elections contradicted the letter and spirit of the Ukrainian Constitution and the September 5 Minsk accords, condemned the fact they had been organized.

In contrast to the West, Russia believes that Sunday’s voting in the two self-proclaimed republics marked an encouraging step towards reconciliation in Ukraine. On the eve of the voting, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in an official statement the elections complied with the Minsk accords and offered a chance to put the situation in southeastern Ukraine to the track of a fruitful dialogue.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia was ready to recognize the results of elections that “have importance in what concerns power legitimization.