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Incumbent
PM Zakharchenko leads in Donetsk elections – early results
RT,
2
November, 2014
Incumbent
PM Aleksandr Zakharchenko is leading in Sunday’s elections in the
self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine,
taking over 70 percent of the votes. In Lugansk, 63 percent are
voting for the current leader Igor Plotnitsky.
Zakharchenko
is ahead of his rivals with over 70 percent of votes after half of
the votes have been counted, the head of the Central Election
Commission of the DPR, Roman Lyagin, said on Sunday evening.
He
was trailed by Aleksandr Kofman, deputy speaker of the Novorossiya
Union parliament, and Yury Sivokonenko, an MP from the local Supreme
Council.
Meanwhile, the lead in the parliamentary elections – also held on Sunday – is being claimed by Zakharchenko's Donetsk Republic party, which has 65.11 percent, the head of the Election Commission added citing exit poll. The rival Svobodniy Donbass party is collecting 34.89 percent of the votes.
In
Lugansk, the incumbent leader and head of the Peace to Lugansk Region
movement, Igor Plotnitsky, has secured 63 percent of the votes,
according to a preliminary count cited by RIA Novosti. The party has
won 69 percent of votes, while some 24 percent voted for its closest
rival, the Lugansk Economic Union.
The
self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk took to
polling stations to vote for their leaders and MPs on Sunday. Over
360 polling stations were open in Donetsk for three million potential
voters. Meanwhile, 102 polling stations for approximately 1.5 million
voters were open in Lugansk.
In
Lugansk, the overall turnout exceeded 60 percent, according to the
head of the Central Election Commission in the LPR, Sergey Kozyakov.
He added that by 8p.m. local time, nearly 630,000 residents had come
to cast their votes.
Kiev
has said it will not recognize the elections, as they contradict
Ukrainian legislation. Ukraine’s Security Service has opened a
criminal case against the organizers of the elections in Donetsk and
Lugansk.
EU’s
new foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has also spoken out
against the elections, arguing that it will be an obstacle to
reconciliation in Ukraine.
“I
consider today’s ‘presidential and parliamentary elections’ in
Donetsk and Luhansk ‘People’s Republics’ a new obstacle on the
path towards peace in Ukraine. The vote is illegal and illegitimate,
and the European Union will not recognise it,”
Mogherini said in a statement.
Ukrainian
President Petro Poroshenko condemned the elections as illegitimate on
Sunday and called on Russia not to recognize the results. "I
count on Russia not to recognize the so-called elections because they
are a clear violation of the September 5 Minsk protocol, which was
also signed by Russia's representative,"
he said in a statement.
However,
the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement late on Sunday saying
that Moscow “respects the
expression of will of the south-eastern [Ukrainians].”
The ministry noted a high turnout and reminded that in the current
situation it is “extremely
important”
for Kiev to work on conducting dialogue with the people of the
region.
Moscow
earlier pointed out that according to the Minsk peace agreements,
elections in both Ukraine and the self-proclaimed republics should be
conducted between October 19 and November 3.
Thus
Poroshenko’s order from October 16, which set the date of elections
in the self-proclaimed republics for December 7, “contradicts
the Minsk agreements,”
said the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Ukraine
conducted parliamentary elections on October 26.
No
serious violations of public order were reported during the Sunday
elections in the DPR. "We
have no reports about incidents at polling stations,”
a DPR Interior Ministry spokesman told TASS news agency. Minor
incidents included a false bomb threat.
International
observers said the elections in the self-proclaimed republics
followed democratic standards, adding that they saw no violations
during the process.
An
MP from the Upper Chamber of Italy’s Parliament, Lucio Malan,
acting as an observer at the elections in Donetsk, told RT that
people “were not influenced
in any way”
during the vote.
“The
prevention of double or triple voting appeared to be good, up to
international standards”
he dded.
“What
was possible for us to see and what we witnessed is that they fit
completely into generally accepted democratic electoral standards,”
Manuel Ochsenreiter, a German observer in Lugansk, told RT. “What
was really impressing – the masses of people at the polling
stations, standing sometimes for hours just to put their vote, to
express their political will.”
“First
I believe the elections followed international standards of
democratic elections. I was very impressed with the enthusiasm and
the vigor with which the people went to the polls to express their
opinion,”
US Senior Attorney Frank Abernathy, an observer in Lugansk, told RT.
Ukrainian battalion leader-turned-MP ready to 'organize blasts in Russia'
RT,
2
November, 2014
Ukraine's
volunteer battalion leader, who is now also an MP, said on a
Ukrainian television show that the battalions are ready to "intrude"
into Russia. He spoke about intended terrorist acts before being cut
off by the show's host.
"I
will speak on behalf of the volunteer battalions, because I have more
information...Today we are ready not just to defend [Ukraine], but to
invade the Russian Federation, break into it with reconnaissance
detachments and sabotage groups," the leader of the Dnepr-1
(Dnipro-1) battalion Yury Bereza said on Sunday during the 'Shuster
Live' TV show
Bereza
spoke about carrying out bombings inside Russia before he was cut off
by the show's host, who said the comments made "people
nervous."
The
Ukrainian military commander of the battalion, sponsored by Ukrainian
oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, recently became a lawmaker after being
elected to the country's parliament.
Bereza
was recently criticized in the media after reports appeared that he
ran away from the heavy battle scene near the town of Ilovaysk in
eastern Ukraine, leaving his volunteer troops behind. Kiev's fighters
were encircled by local self-defense forces in the area, with
Ukrainian officials later announcing hundreds of casualties.
After
the Ilovaysk failure, Bereza announced he would "be
drinking beer on the ruins of the Moscow Kremlin."
During
a meeting with people in a Ukrainian town after the parliamentary
elections, Bereza also shared his intentions of becoming the
country's new defense minister.
Bereza's
volunteer battalion is one of dozens of units formed this year by
Maidan activists and ultranationalists of the Right Sector umbrella
group in Ukraine. As an irregular force assisting Kiev in its
military assault on eastern Ukraine, such groups have been reported
to be using fierce tactics.
The
recent
UN report on the human rights situation in Ukraine covering the
period of August 18 to September 16 accused volunteer battalions,
such as Dnepr-1, of violating international humanitarian law –
"including
the principles of military necessity, distinction, proportionality
and precaution."
Specific
evidence of “beatings, poor nutrition and lack of medical
assistance” are also mentioned
in the report. The UN expressed special concern over the "enforced
disappearances, arbitrary detention and ill-treatment allegedly
perpetrated by members of the volunteer battalions,"
in particular Dnepr-1.
"The
government needs to exercise more control over all of its forces,
including the volunteer battalions, and to ensure accountability for
any violations and crimes committed by their members,"
the UN report stated.
Igor
Strelkov press-conference 30/10/14
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