Holding elections in the self-proclaimed "DPR" and "LPR", scheduled for October 18 and November 1 respectively, does not contradict to the Minsk agreement, stated Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister Federation, Interfax-Ukraine.
"Now they say, if you hold elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk for 18 October and 1 November, it will be a violation of the agreements. There is no any date in Minsk agreements," he stressed.
Lavrov also criticized the conduct of the elections in Ukraine before the amnesty. "Minsk agreements said that elections should be held in accordance to the OSCE criteria. One of them is providing conditions, when no one is subjected to intimidation, harassment and so on. Therefore, the statement of the Kiev authorities of elections to come first and then the amnesty - it is a serious distortion of the whole essence of what is happening," he said.
Roman Bezsmertny, Ukrainian representative in negotiations’ political subgroup, said before that Russia and representatives of "DPR" and "LPR" demanded the election to be held on October 18 and November 1, and by their own rules.
Earlier, on Monday, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, stated that the NATO member states do not recognize elections in so-called "DPR" and "LPR".
President Poroshenko called to extend sanctions against Russia in connection with the decision to conduct pseudo-elections in unrecognized republics of Donbas. Poroshenko noted that the decision of militants to hold such elections on October 18 and November 1 is a serious threat to the Minsk agreement.
