From Interfax:
Moscow Respects Choice Of Voters In Southeastern Ukraine
Moscow respects the choice made by people of southeastern Ukraine in the November 2 elections and is prepared to further support efforts aimed at settling the Ukrainian crisis.
"The elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were
well-organized in general and drew a high voter turnout. We respect the choice made by residents of the southeast," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement following the presidential and parliamentary polls in the Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk (LPR) People's Republics.
"The elected representatives have received a mandate to tackle practical tasks in order to bring life in the republics back to normal," the ministry said.
"In the context of these elections, it is imperative to take active steps to establish a sustainable dialogue between the central Ukrainian authorities and representatives of Donbas in line with the Minsk agreements. We are ready to work together with our international partners and continue to make a constructive contribution to the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine," it said.
More from AFP:
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called on Russia Monday to respect "the unity of Ukraine" in the wake of elections held by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
"We will judge Russia and President [Vladimir] Putin on their statements that the unity of Ukraine cannot be called into question," Steinmeier said in a Twitter message.
From today's look at yesterday's vote by RFE/RL's News Desk:
Analysts said the separatist elections would only solidify the standoff between Kyiv and the separatists, giving Russia a lever of influence by setting the rebel-held regions further apart from the rest of Ukraine and potentially creating a new "frozen conflict" like those Kremlin critics say Moscow has encouraged elsewhere in the former Soviet Union to maintain clout. ...
Several other Western media outlets also reported witnessing heavy movements of troops near Donetsk.
“We also caution Russia against using any such illegitimate vote as a pretext to insert additional troops and military equipment into Ukraine,” "The Wall Street Journal" quoted Mark Stroh, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, as saying.
Read the full story here.
From "Ukraine: Donetsk Votes For New Reality In Country That Does Not Exist" by Shaun Walker in "The Guardian":
With armed men in the polling station, no voter lists, and international observers coming from an organisation concocted the night before the vote, these were no normal elections.
But then the Donetsk People’s Republic is no normal country. It is no country at all, according to most of the world. But the vote for prime minister here and in neighbouring Luhansk region on Sunday was one more step towards creating a new reality on the ground and carving out a chunk of Ukraine that will no longer controlled by Kiev. Moscow has already said it will recognise the results.
The vote came more than six months after a handful of gunmen began taking over administrative buildings in several eastern cities. Since then, the Ukrainian army and volunteer battalions have fought a bloody war against rebels backed with Russian firepower in a conflict that has claimed well over 3,000 lives, many of them civilians.
Read the full story here.
"Ukraine does not want peace, as it claims. Obviously it is playing a double game."
-- the newly elected president of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Aleksandr Zakharchenko
VIDEO: Hundreds of people took to the streets of Kyiv to protest against elections in separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine on November 2. The protesters marched from Independence Square, the locus of the revolution, chanting slogans and singing the Ukrainian national anthem. The elections have been recognized by Russia but condemned by the Ukrainian and many Western governments. (Video by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
