Ukraine is not going to legitimize the governments of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics (DPR and LPR) through local elections, says Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukraine's prime minister.
“We will hold them (local elections in those parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are not controlled by central government). Take your gangsters with guns away and restore Ukrainian central power – and we will hold the elections there,” he said in an interview with Ukrainian television channels on Feb. 27.
Russia refuses to provide Ukraine with border control so as “to permanently keep this territory unstable, send more temporarily displaced persons, suck out money from the Ukrainian budget and create economic and political instability here,” he said.
“Effectively Russia is seeking Ukraine’s collapse through some quasi-federal government,” Yatsenyuk said.
