U.S. calls upon Donbas residents to boycott sham elections

The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine called upon the residents
of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics to boycott the
local elections scheduled for Nov. 11. “Just as Ukraine is taking positive
steps towards strengthening peace, Russia is fanning the conflict in organizing
sham ‘elections’,” the embassy wrote on its Facebook page. “The residents of
eastern Ukraine should boycott these elections, which don’t conform neither to
the Minsk Accords, nor Ukrainian legislation.”

Zenon Zawada: Elections
for the republic heads (their official title) and members of parliament will be
held in Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk on Sunday. The results have
already been largely arranged, with Denis Pushlin to emerge as the head in
Donetsk and Leonid Pasechnik to be elected in Luhansk. Both are currently
serving as acting heads. Several local parties will compete as well.

Even if most Donbas residents don’t participate, the
needed results will be arranged as the access of international authorities and
media will be highly restricted. Russia has endorsed the elections, drawing
criticism from Western authorities that they violate the Minsk Accords. The
Russians insist the elections don’t violate the peace accords.