Russia and its lackeys continue to forge ahead in eastern Ukraine. Their plan is to hold “elections” on November 11 in the “separatist”-controlled areas of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. The topic of those elections caused what the news media widely referred to as a “clash” at the United Nations Security Council between Russia and Western powers on October 30.
France, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom (current European Union members of the Security Council), Italy, Belgium and Germany (former and future EU members of the council) issued a joint statement that was read before the meeting even started outside the council’s chamber. “We condemn the illegitimate ‘elections’ planned for 11 November in the non-government controlled territories of the so-called ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’ and ‘Donetsk People’s Republic.’ If held, these illegitimate ‘elections’ would contravene commitments made under the Minsk agreements and violate Ukrainian law. Any such illegal elections would be incompatible with the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” they stated. “We call on the international community to stand united in opposing these illegitimate ‘elections’ that can only serve to undermine efforts to achieve peace in the region. We urge the separatists to abandon the plans for ‘elections’ and call on Russia to bring its considerable influence to bear to stop the ‘elections’ from taking place.”
Speaking afterwards at the Security Council, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.N., Volodymyr Yelchenko, thanked the eight EU countries for their strong statement and asserted: “…the Russian delegation is preoccupied, first and foremost, with using the [Security] Council platform to wage its disinformation campaign with regard to Ukraine… Such a behavior has nothing to do with enhancing transparency. But it definitely has everything to do with desperate attempts to avoid responsibility for Russia’s well-documented wrongful acts against Ukraine: the military aggression, occupation and attempted illegal annexation of Ukraine’s territories.” He added that Russia “appears to be hell-bent on sabotaging all genuine efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict and to bring peace to the war-torn regions of Donbas.”
Ambassador Yelchenko underscored that these “fake ‘elections’ ” violate Ukraine’s Constitution and laws, undermine the Minsk agreements and “inflict serious harm to international efforts to resolve the situation that arose as a result of the Russian military aggression and occupation of parts of Ukraine’s territory.” He also warned that “there are indications that these so-called ‘elections’ may serve as a steppingstone towards a new cycle of the Russian armed aggression.”
According to the Associated Press, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Jonathan Cohen said later that the “sham elections staged by Russia” violate the Minsk agreements, which stipulate that elections must be held in accordance with Ukrainian law and be supervised by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Mr. Cohen noted that Russia is using the elections to bolster the DPR and LPR authorities, which “are inseparable from the illegal armed groups controlled by Moscow.”
In short, these “elections” scheduled for November 11 are another scheme of the Russian occupation authorities, a scam and a sham. As Mr. Yelchenko emphasized, “only legitimately and lawfully elected officials can represent the local communities in Donbas, and not the Kremlin’s puppets sent from or appointed by Moscow.” Clearly then, these elections must be considered null and void.