Due to reports in the Russian media regarding the intention of the occupation administration of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine to hold so called "snap elections” of the chiefs of the militants and their illegitimate representation bodies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine underlines that such actions of the Kremlin are a blatant violation of the Minsk agreements.

In case of holding these fake “snap elections” their results will be null and void, they will not have any legal consequences and will not be recognized by Ukraine nor by the international community.

Moreover, such provocative actions of Russia deliberately undermine the Minsk agreements and could derail the persistent international efforts aimed at resolving the situation caused by Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine and the occupation of part of the sovereign territory of our state.

The Russian Federation will bear all the responsibility for continued blocking and torpedoing the peace process.

We call on international partners to give a clear assessment of such actions by the Kremlin, as well as to increase political and diplomatic pressure on the Russian Federation, including by imposing additional sanctions, in order to prompt Russia to get on track of implementation of its commitments under Minsk agreements.

For its part, Ukraine remains committed to the peaceful settlement of the situation in Donbas on the basis of the Minsk agreements.