Gerashchenko names conditions for elections in Donbas / Photo from UNIAN
The Ukrainian side will agree to elections in the occupied territory of Donbas only if several important preconditions are fulfilled, the Ukrainian President’s envoy for the peaceful settlement of Donbas conflict, Iryna Gerashchenko, said in an interview with TV Channel 5.
"The Ukrainian side takes one position that the elections in the occupied areas can be held only with a number of important prerequisites. This is access for the Ukrainian media, disarmament, weapons withdrawal, the admission of the OSCE to the occupied territories, in the first place to the Ukraine-Russia border which must be returned under Ukraine’s control , withdrawal of foreign troops," she said.
Gerashchenko also noted that it is necessary to cancel the results of pseudo-elections that the pro-Russian militants declared in November, 2014.
Read alsoUkraine delegate in Contact Group: Gryzlov repeats Putin’s mantraEarlier, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko suggested to deploy in the territory of the occupied areas of Donbas a special EU mission to provide for the holding of the elections.
In addition, the leaders of the Normandy Four have called to intensify in 2016 the work on the modalities of the elections in Donbas with the assistance of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).