The international community will not recognize elections in Donbas if they are held without Kyiv's clearance, says Leonid Kuchma, former Ukrainian president and currently Ukraine's representative in the Trilateral Contact Group for settling the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
“They have to show the world once again what they are. Let them hold [elections] – after all, the world didn’t recognize and will never recognize Zakharchenko’s and Plotnitsky’s elections of November 12. If they hold these elections as well, this will be done to no avail,” Kuchma said when asked by Interfax about consequences of elections not cleared by Ukraine in the districts not controlled by Kyiv in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts of Ukraine.
The organization of such elections would have no effect on the Minsk agreements’ future, Kuchma said. “No, they won’t bury them,” he said.
The change of the international format of settling the conflict in eastern Ukraine would have no significant effect on the process, Kuchma said, pointing out that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement process involves nine countries and the conflict over Transdniestria seven countries (the 5+2 format). “You can make whatever formats you like, but what counts most is that Russia, on which everything primarily depends, should understand and resolve this problem,” Kuchma said, adding that the conflict resolution also depends on Germany’s and the U.S.’ positions.
