BERLIN - European leaders will consider illegal the outcome of the election scheduled for November 2, 2014 in eastern Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone.
Berlin government spokesman Georg Streiter said that Merkel and Putin held a joint telephone conversation with French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
‘Merkel and Hollande underlined that there can only be a ballot in line with Ukrainian law,’ he said, adding that the vote would violate an agreement endorsed by Russia and further complicate efforts to end the crisis in eastern Ukraine.
‘The German government will not recognize these illegitimate elections,’ Merkel’s spokesman said. European leaders were united on this issue and had agreed on this at a summit last week in Brussels.
