Pushilin: Elections in DPR will not be a threat to Minsk agreements

The elections in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) will not be a threat to the Minsk agreements, Vice Speaker of the National Assembly of the DPR and the republic’s representative to the Contact Group on Ukraine Denis Pushilin said on Sunday.

“The elections cannot be a threat to the Minsk agreements as they will be conducted according to the complex of measures [to settle the conflict in Donbass] and the law on elections. We have repeatedly sent the Supreme Rada our proposals on how to settle the situation in the east of Ukraine and are ready to discuss them with Kiev,” Pushilin said.

Pushilin’s statement was a response to the concerns expressed by Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande in their Saturday phone talk with Vladimir Putin. The German and French leaders were concerned that separate local elections in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics might create a threat to the Minsk process.

In July, the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk decided to conduct local elections on Oct 18 and Nov 1, respectively. It was their response to Kiev’s reluctance to meet its Minsk obligations to impose a special self-government regime in Donbass and to coordinate with the authorities of Donetsk and Lugansk the law on local self-government.