Russia will recognize separatist elections in Ukraine's restive eastern region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday.
"Elections due to be held in the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics on November 2 will be very important from the point of view of the legitimization of power," Lavrov told LifeNews television and the Izvestia newspaper.
Moscow's support for Nov. 2 elections, however, violates the agreed upon Minsk Protocol that established Dec. 7 as the date for early elections in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama delivered a message to Moscow, urging Russia to support "legitimate local elections on December 7, in keeping with the agreement that Russia and separatist representatives signed in Minsk, Belarus, on September 5, 2014."
This post was published at UPI
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