Free World must Condemn and Reject

Russian Elections in Occupied eastern Ukraine

The free world must categorically condemn and reject Russia’s contrived elections in occupied eastern Ukraine, which would turn the region into Vichy Ukraine.

The Kremlin elections in occupied Donbas are being seen as a Russian gambit to weaken and fragment Ukraine and make it ripe for re-subjugation by Russia.

In a telephone press conference a couple of days ago, Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker called on Russia to halt the sham elections.

“We believe that the entities themselves do not have legitimacy in the local area, nor are they consistent with the Minsk agreements themselves. They don’t exist in the Minsk agreements, and in fact the implementation of the Minsk agreements calls for the restoration of Ukraine’s constitutional order and there is no place for these Republics in the Ukrainian constitutional orders either,” Volker said.

The US official said Washington supports elections but they must be part of the so-called Minsk process and he insisted that they must be held in accordance with Ukrainian laws.

“So the elections being held, that Russia is organizing for November 11 (tomorrow) are wholly illegitimate. We urge that they be stopped and there is no way that anyone from Europe, the United States, et cetera, can give any recognition to the results of such elections,” Volker declared.

His message must be repeated by all governments and global institutions like the UN, NATO and the European Union.

Volker further pointed out that Russia and not its mercenary-terrorists is in control of virtually everything in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

“What is notable here is that we have said for a long time that Russia has 100% command and control of what is happening in the occupied areas there – military forces, political entities, and direct economic activity. This is the first step taken in the form of sanctions that explicitly recognizes or explicitly is based on the notion that Russia actually controls the Donbas and eastern Ukraine,” he said.

Last week, the US Treasury Department placed additional sanctions on Moscow for its continuing occupation of Crimea and its war in eastern Ukraine. Two Russian individuals and a business entity were sanctioned for “serious human rights abuses.” Eight Russian entities, some of them hotel complexes near the Black Sea resort of Yalta, and one individual were sanctioned for “advancing Russian interests in Crimea.”

Shortly after the Treasury Department announcement, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko posted a message on his Facebook page saying the new round of sanctions were a “clear message that all those involved in the illegal occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula and hybrid aggression in Donbas will not avoid responsibility.”

The European Commission joined growing denunciations of the Russian elections. High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini said the European Union condemns the so-called “elections” and considers them as illegal.

“The EU considers the ‘elections’ planned for 11 November 2018 in the non-government controlled territories of the so-called ‘Luhansk People's Republic’ and ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ as illegal and illegitimate and will not recognize them. The EU condemns these ‘elections,’ as they are in breach of international law, undermine the commitments taken under the Minsk agreements and violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and law. The Minsk agreements exclusively provide for local elections to be held within the framework of the Ukrainian legislation and under the OSCE standards and observation,” Mogherini said.

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin pointed out that Russia is making plans to rebuild its prison of nations and needs fake elections in occupied Donbas to fragment and weaken Ukraine.

“Russians already have occupying administrations that are responsible for everything, relying on military force, military and hybrid aggression against Ukraine,” Klimkin told journalists, according to an UNIAN correspondent. He added that it is pointless for anybody but Russia to hold another sham “elections” in Donbas.

“Since Russia’s entire idea is not only to stop worrying about Donbas, but to forget about it at all. The whole idea is to abuse Donbas to destabilize Ukraine, legitimize the Russian occupation of Donbas, and return it to Ukraine as a kind of a ‘Trojan horse’ to fragment Ukraine, weaken Ukraine, and so that there is no independent, free, democratic and European Ukraine,” the Ukrainian official emphasized.

Echoing Poroshenko’s statement that local Russian secessionist-proxies will be held responsible for holding these elections, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov also said everyone who chooses to participate in fake and illicit events related to the so-called “elections” in Russian-occupied Donbas will bear inescapable responsibility.

“The law enforcement agencies of Ukraine will identify all the organizers and participants in those pseudo-elections, and they will inevitably be prosecuted,” the NSDC’s press service quoted Turchynov as saying.

According to him, these criminal acts condemned by all leading nations “are a gross violation and a total discredit of the Minsk peace agreements, as well as the Russian aggressor’s attempt to strengthen its control over the occupied territory.”

There is no realistic way to halt this latest Russian attempt to destroy Ukraine but nonetheless the international community must continue to press with its condemnation of Moscow’s effort to do so.

From a local, American perspective, US senators and representatives and the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus must join the denunciation campaign and threaten Russia with further steps that will isolate it – no, ban it – from the international community.

Anything less, will mean recognizing Vichy Ukraine.

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