Berlin, Paris call on Kiev to consent to local elections in Donetsk, Lugansk People’s Republics

By Vladimir V. Sytin
The Ukrainian Times

During a recent meeting in Paris foreign ministers of Germany and France called on the Ukrainian neo-Nazi regime to consent to local elections in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics in June, as well as to pass a special law on these elections. As far as a civil war in the Donbas region with large Russian populations is concerned, the European Union feels fatigue.

Importantly, Russia and the EU agree that the election is the only way out of this situation. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Kiev must build up a dialog with authorities in Donbas and get agreement on the local elections. In addition, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights required Ukraine to legalize documents issued by bodies of power in Crimea, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

According to Roman Lyagin, chairman of the central election commission of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the DPR is preparing to hold the elections on April 20.

Many analysts think if a conflict in Donbas is frozen, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics will continue their integration into Russia. In the event of non-fulfillment of the Minsk agreements, the Ukrainian neo-Nazi regime will have to bear a great expenditure on the civil war in Donbas, borrow from international financial institutions and submit to the loss of a part of territory.

It is important to note that 2,269 Ukrainian neo-Nazi militants have been killed in Donbas since the spring of 2014. By comparison, 2,381 U.S. invaders had been killed in Afghanistan over the course of nearly 14 years.

Heroic defenders of Donbas say they are fighting for autonomy, for the right to live and work in their own Russian-speaking region. As Russian President Vladimir Putin once put it, the U.S.-sponsored civil war in Donbas serves the geopolitical purposes of deterring Russia. To avoid war, he is non-provocative and low-key in his responses to Western provocations. Politologist Stephen Lendman wrote that Vladimir Putin is the world’s most preeminent geopolitical leader, a master chess player, making Obama look buffoon-like in comparison.