'Morel's plan' on elections in Donbas personal opinion, elections should take place in accordance with Ukrainian legislation - Poroshenko
KYIV. Sept 21 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he regards the plan on elections in Donbas proposed by Pierre Morel, coordinator of the working group on political issues of the Trilateral Contact Group, as the personal opinion of its author.
Poroshenko said he regards Morel's proposal as his "personal opinion." "I am confident that Ukraine's position on the implementation of the Minsk agreements is absolutely clear and consistent," the president said in an interview with Ukrainian television channels that aired on Sunday evening.
He added that the OSCE's function in the negotiations on Donbas is "a moderation issue, it's an important issue in the discussion of any proposals, but the elections will be conducted according to the Ukrainian legislation, and, if any changes need to be made, they have to be discussed and go through [voting] procedures in the Ukrainian parliament."
"We are for elections conducted according to Ukrainian legislation and in accordance with Minsk. The [October] 18 elections are a precise analogue of the November 2, 2014 elections, which destroyed the Minsk process and which, unfortunately, were followed by numerous casualties, escalation of the conflict and actual destruction of the Minsk agreements," Poroshenko said.
The president added that Kyiv will do everything to prevent "these pseudo-elections."
If such elections are conducted, Ukraine and its partners in the world will regard them as a serious breach of the Minsk agreements, Poroshenko said.
According to earlier reports, Alexander Zakharchenko, head of the self-proclaimed DPR, on September 16 ordered the holding of elections to the self-government bodies of the territory controlled by Donetsk on October 18, which is not the date on which similar elections will be held in the rest of Ukrainian territory.
On September 16, the Luhansk Information Center reported, citing a source close to the negotiations, citing a statement made by Morel during the work of the group, that provisions governing elections in the territory of the self-proclaimed DPR and LPR can be partially included in Article 10 of the Ukrainian law on the special local self-government procedures in some areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.