15:03 23.09.2015

Kyiv critical of DPR, LPR proposal to hold elections on Feb 21

2 min read
Kyiv critical of DPR, LPR proposal to hold elections on Feb 21

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Ambassador at Large Dmytro Kuleba has called cynical the proposal of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics to hold local elections on the territories under their control on February 21.

"This proposal is an absolutely cynical act of trolling," Kuleba said in a program aired by Ukraine's Channel 5 on Tuesday evening. The Crimean accession to Russia and the tragic events on Kyiv's Maidan began on February 20-21, 2014, he said. "Of all the days in the calendar they could choose from they chose exactly that one," the Ukrainian diplomat said.

In fact, what is now happening is "the cross-messages sent to one another," Kuleba said. "The Russians were perfectly aware of why NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg planned to visit us and what documents were planned to be signed. By today's visit of the NATO secretary general the West sent an explicit message not only to us but also to Russia - Ukraine is a part of the West, we [the West] are set to integrate, and everything will now depend on the Ukrainian wish. And the Russians are raising their bets and bargaining a delay in the fulfillment of the Minsk agreements and a postponement of the elections," he said.

This exchange of messages will reach its climax at the 'Normandy Four' summit in Paris on October 2 where the parties will not just send messages but will also make decisions, he said.

"The UN General Assembly session is another way of warming up before the 'Normandy format' meeting. What we are seeing and hearing now is, as the army will put it, artillery preparation for a grand diplomatic operation," he said.

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