No country, including Russia, has recognized pseudo-elections held in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR, LPR), Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has said.
“We got what we expected, in the sense that absolutely no country, including Russia, has recognized these elections, either legally or politically, and this can be confirmed by today’s statement [by Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov],” he said in an interview with Channel 5 late on Friday, Nov. 7.
Klimkin noted that the EU and all its member states had clearly stated that what happened in Donbas on Nov. 2 was a violation of the Minsk agreements that are aimed at fulfilling the peace plan of the Ukrainian president.
“For them this is an issue that must be resolved now, and they are well aware that this is the way to nowhere, in the sense that if we do not stop that and do not work in the logic, first and foremost, of ceasing the fire, releasing the hostages, establishing control over the border, taking real political steps and the OSCE will watch all that, then we are moving in the direction of a frozen conflict,” he said.
In this context, he said, the EU understands that today it is necessary to act and that the discussions within the EU are continuing on how to act.
“A meeting of the foreign ministers of the EU member states will be held on Nov. 17, and further steps will be discussed at it. I am confident that the EU will discuss different options of sanctions, including against those who organized an action that is called for some reason ‘the election of Nov. 2,'” Klimkin said.
