Elections in Donbas cannot be allowed in any case - Kuchma

The so-called elections announced by the leaders of the Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions cannot be allowed in any case.

Ukraine's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in Donbas Leonid Kuchma told this to journalists on the sidelines of the YES forum in Kyiv on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"If the 'Normandy format' agrees [to the elections], then it means we will simply legalize these 'authorities' existing in the so-called 'DPR,' 'LPR." This cannot be allowed in any case," he said.

At the same time, Kuchma noted that it does not depend on the Minsk format and recalled that the leaders of the Normandy Format countries last met in October 2016.

"Everything has been shifted onto the ministers, including onto the Trilateral Contact Group, who have no rights. We Ukrainians have to shout louder about that," he said.

On September 11, militants in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions scheduled "elections" for November 11.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stressed that the intentions of the Russian occupation administration to hold so-called extraordinary elections in the temporarily occupied territories of the Donbas grossly violate Russia's obligations as a party to the Minsk agreements.

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