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Pro-Russian Rebels Agree To Postpone Elections
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine say they have decided to postpone disputed local elections in territory they control until February.
Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego, the representatives of the self-proclaimed "people's republics" in parts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, said in a joint statement that local elections scheduled for October 18 and November 1 would be postponed until next year.
The statement, published on the rebels' Donetsk News Agency website, said the separatists decided to delay holding the elections after studying the results of the Paris summit on October 2 at which the leaders of Germany, France, Russia, and Ukraine took part.
Pushilin and Deinego, who represent the rebels in talks moderated by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said they would not hold the elections as scheduled as long as Ukraine fully implemented the "political points" of the Minsk peace agreement that was signed in February.
Ukrainian officials and several other Western countries had condemned the rebels' announcement to hold elections outside of Ukrainian jurisdiction and said it was a gross violation of the Minsk agreement.
Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax
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Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine say they have decided to postpone disputed local elections until next February.