Foreign Ministry: Moscow aggravating escalation in Donbas by opening Russian party’s representative office

"The Russian authorities continue to openly disregard the Minsk Agreements and take steps to drag the currently uncontrolled areas of Donbas into their political, economic and electoral field," Oleg Nikolenko, the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said in a comment to Ukrinform.

The diplomat noted that the declared goal of the representative office of “A Just Russia - For Truth” party was to promote the exercise of electoral rights of “citizens of Russia” — residents of the temporarily occupied territories. As noted, this intention grossly violates the legislation and sovereignty of Ukraine and creates opportunities for electoral fraud in Russia.

Nikolenko noted that Russia had been recently actively discussing the organization of elections to the State Duma in the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

“Ukraine has already stated that it will not recognize the legitimacy of such voting. Russia must finally start fulfilling its commitments to achieve a political and diplomatic settlement of the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict based on full respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty, compliance with Ukrainian legislation and international law,” the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson said.

According to the website of the Russian party “A Just Russia - For Truth”, chairman of “A Just Russia” faction in the State Duma Sergei Mironov appointed his aide Alexei Zhigulin as “an authorized representative of the party” in the occupied Donbas and instructed him to create a “representative office” in Donetsk that will receive residents of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

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