Poroshenko says DPR, LPR elections jeopardize peace process in east Ukraine - spokesman
KYIV. Oct 28 (Interfax) - Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko is convinced that the elections in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR, respectively) on November 2 undermine the peace process in the Donbas region.
Poroshenko made this claim at a meeting with U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee member James Inhofe in Kyiv on Tuesday, Poroshenko's press office said.
"At the meeting the head of state also noted that the pseudoelections announced by the so-called DPR and LPR for early November not only have nothing in common with the Minsk Protocol of September 5, 2014, but they also grossly contradict its letter and spirit. They put the entire peace process at risk," the press office said.
Local elections in certain parts of Donbas can only be held according to Ukrainian laws, Poroshenko said.
The parties also discussed the early parliamentary elections held recently in Ukraine. The president said, in particular, that a day earlier he met with monitors from the missions of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Parliament, who said that overall the Ukrainian elections were honest and up to international standards.
For his part, Inhofe emphasized the importance of it from the viewpoint of the reforms and opportunities Ukraine has never had before.
Poroshenko said he was convinced that a new majority in Rada will be pro-European and make sure the reforms are implemented.
The parties also discussed the reform of the Ukrainian defense sector and energy security issues.
A day earlier Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow will recognize the results of the election of leaders and parliaments in the DPR and LPR.
