Canada against elections in Donbass

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Territorial Election Commission in Donetsk in November 2014 (Andrew Butko/Wikimedia Common)

Russia-backed voting won’t be accepted

Global Affairs Canada condemned Russia-backed elections held on November 11, 2018, in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

As written in the official statement of the Canadian foreign agency issued after voting day, “these ‘elections’ are an attempt to validate the rule of Moscow-imposed Russian proxies.” Canada reaffirmed its stand on these territories as “Russian-occupied.” In such circumstances, the voting results cannot be recognized due to their illegitimate and illegal nature. It became the second statement of Global Affairs Canada on the issue. The first one with almost identical content was published prior to the elections on November 10, 2018. Similar statements were adopted by other countries, including but not limited to the United States, 28 EU countries, Turkey, Switzerland, Norway, Georgia, Moldova and Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, in the course of NATO PA annual session in Halifax, NS, on November 17, 2018, the Ukrainian parliamentary delegation to Canada met with the Canadian MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj who co-chairs the Canada-Ukraine friendship group. According to the website of the Ukrainian Parliament, parliamentarians urged Canada to impose additional sanctions on Russia in response to the above-mentioned elections in Donbass, illegal detention of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia, Russia’s aggressive actions against international shipping in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov as well as “militarization of the Crimean peninsula.” They also asked Canada to “support Ukraine’s fight” to stop the Nord Stream 2, a new Russian export gas pipeline meant to run to Europe across the Baltic Sea to bypass the transit through Ukraine.

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