Halya Coynash: New Kremlin ploy for bypassing Minsk agreements rubberstamped by the same pro-Russian ‘observers’

Published Oct. 3, 2016 at 8:53 am

This file photo taken on April 8, 2015 shows Alexander Zakharchenko, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), speaking during an interview at his office in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk. (AFP)

Photo by AFP

The self-styled ‘Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics’ [DNR, LNR] held ‘primaries’ in Donetsk and Luhansk on Oct 2, claiming them to be preparation for the local elections demanded by the Minsk Agreement. The event was effusively praised by around 20 ‘observers’, some of them already known for their far-right or extreme left views and unwavering pro-Russian position.