Washington - US Secretary of State John Kerry has expressed concern at the plans of the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics to hold elections on Nov. 2 and has said that it will violate the Minsk agreements.
“I am concerned, however, at plans for another so-called local election in eastern Ukraine on Nov. 2, which Russia has said it will recognize,” Kerry said at a joint press conference with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird in Ottawa on Oct. 29.
“This would be a clear violation of the commitments made by both Russia and the separatists that it backs in the Minsk agreements,” the state secretary said.
And the United States, along with the rest of the international community, will not recognize so-called separatist elections, unless they happen within the framework of the special status law passed by Ukraine’s parliament and signed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, he said.
According to Kerry, the US continues to support Ukraine in its efforts to promote reform, fight corruption, pursue a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the east, and ultimately end the occupation of Crimea.
