Russian political analyst and publicist Andrei Piontkovsky says the efforts by Russian President Vladimir Putin to support pro-Moscow candidates in the upcoming elections in Ukraine will be his "final stake."
"The first two failed. The first one, may I remind you, was 'Novorossia,' that is, an attempt to stir up unrest in 12 regions in order to dismember Ukraine," Piontkovaky told Apostrophe, a Ukrainian news outlet.
"When this failed, he came up with the idea of pushing the so-called 'LPR' [self-proclaimed 'Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics'] into Ukraine. This hasn't been achieved, either. And now there will be a third attempt to grab control over the entire Ukraine through the election campaign," Piontkovsky said.
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The political expert added that Putin had never wanted Donbas as such but rather sought to enjoy control over the whole of Ukraine.
"This is the nature of his aggression. Therefore, one should be wary of [the Kremlin's] active participation in the campaign, including in support, in all senses, of certain candidates, rather than its initiatives on Donbas," the political analyst said.
