Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, who is chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the elections being held in the self-declared Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics run counter to the Minsk accords on the settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine.
“The Minsk Protocol and the Memorandum of Sept. 5 and 19 respectively should continue to serve as the relevant framework and reference point for steps towards de-escalation of the conflict in eastern Ukraine,” Burkhalter said in a statement posted on the OSCE’s Web site on Oct. 31.
Burkhalter also said that, “the Minsk Protocol foresees the holding of early local elections in accordance with Ukrainian law in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.”
Concerning “intentions of the self-proclaimed entities of Donetsk and Luhansk to hold so-called elections outside the framework set by the Ukrainian law,” he noted that, “such action runs counter to the letter and spirit of the Minsk Protocol and would further complicate its implementation.”
