
Al Jazeera English
Russia's foreign minister has questioned the legitimacy of Ukraine's upcoming presidential election amid troop deployment in the east of the country.
Sergey Lavrov said it would be "unusual" to hold a presidential election on May 25 while the army was being deployed against Ukrainians.
"Scheduling elections in times when the army is used against parts of the population is not conventional," he told a news conference on Tuesday at a Council of Europe meeting in Vienna. "This is not Afghanistan."
"We will see how this process ends," he said.
Lavrov said Ukraine should agree a new constitution to define presidential powers before people went to cast their ballots.
Ukraine's foreign minister said if Russia backed the poll, he was ready to support a new round of Geneva peace talks.
Acting Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia said: "If Russia is ready to commit itself to support these elections and to eliminate this threat and eliminate its support for the extremist elements in Ukraine, we are ready to have such a round of meetings."
With presidential elections less than three weeks away, Ukraine and its allies are keen to reduce any threat to the vote, which they see as providing added legitimacy to the government in Kiev.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's interior minister said 30 pro-Russian gunmen were killed on Monday during government operations to drive out anti-government forces from the city of Slovyansk.
Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page on Tuesday that four government troops also died and another 20 were injured during the fighting.
Gun battles took place at various positions around the city in what has proven the most ambitious government effort to date to quell unrest in the mainly Russian-speaking east.
In Donetsk, a major city about 120km south of Slovyansk, flights from the local airport were suspended on Tuesday.
Ukraine is facing its worst crisis in decades as the polarised nation decides whether to look towards Europe, as its western regions want to do, or improve ties with Russia, which is favoured by the many Russian-speakers in the east.
The crisis has since escalated into a series of open clashes between government forces and rebels that the Ukrainian government says are armed in some cases with large-caliber weapons and mortars.
Source: Agencies
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/05/russia-questions-unusual-ukraine-election-201456123041669596.html
© 2009-2025 Center for Eurasian Studies (AVİM) All Rights Reserved
No comments yet.
-
NEW KIDNAPPING REPORTED IN NIGERIA AS U.S. OFFERS HELP
Hande Apakan 06.05.2014 -
“MONTENEGRO AND THE BALKANS” MEETING ORGANIZED BY AVIM AND ANKARA UNI. CENTER OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL RESEARCH
Hande Apakan 17.03.2015 -
AVIM HELD A BRAIN-STORMING MEETING ON THE TOPIC “SOUTH EAST EUROPE, THE BALKANS, AND PROSPECTS FOR THE REGION”.
Hande Apakan 31.03.2014 -
ISRAEL BOMBS SYRIAN POSTS OVER GOLAN ATTACK ON ITS TROOPS
Hande Apakan 18.03.2014 -
AVIM AND AZERBAIJAN SAM ARE CO-HOSTING A CONFERENCE ON THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT
Hande Apakan 17.11.2014
-
ARMENIA AND THE ARMENIAN DIASPORA
Alev KILIÇ 08.10.2012 -
AN EVALUATION OF FILMS WITH THE GENOCIDE THEME DURING THE CENTENARY
Onur DİRİBAŞ 28.07.2015 -
PASHINYAN'S STATEMENTS REGARDING 'WESTERN ARMENIA' AND PUBLIC OPINION REALITIES
Tuğçe TECİMER - Selenay Erva YALÇIN 13.06.2025 -
DIASPORA ARMENIANS AND THEIR INITIATIVES FOR COMPENSATION: THE REFLECTIONS OF THE MOVSESIAN CASE
Aslan Yavuz ŞİR 27.02.2012 -
OIC COUNCIL OF FOREIGN MINISTERS 43RD SESSION HELD IN UZBEKISTAN
Özge Nur ÖĞÜTCÜ 02.11.2016
-
THE ARMENIAN QUESTION - BASIC KNOWLEDGE AND DOCUMENTATION -
THE TRUTH WILL OUT -
RADİKAL ERMENİ UNSURLARCA GERÇEKLEŞTİRİLEN MEZALİMLER VE VANDALİZM -
PATRIOTISM PERVERTED -
MEN ARE LIKE THAT -
BAKÜ-TİFLİS-CEYHAN BORU HATTININ YAŞANAN TARİHİ -
INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS ON THE EVENTS OF 1915 -
FAKE PHOTOS AND THE ARMENIAN PROPAGANDA -
ERMENİ PROPAGANDASI VE SAHTE RESİMLER -
A Letter From Japan - Strategically Mum: The Silence of the Armenians -
Japonya'dan Bir Mektup - Stratejik Suskunluk: Ermenilerin Sessizliği -
Anastas Mikoyan: Confessions of an Armenian Bolshevik -
Sovyet Sonrası Ukrayna’da Devlet, Toplum ve Siyaset - Değişen Dinamikler, Dönüşen Kimlikler -
Ermeni Sorunuyla İlgili İngiliz Belgeleri (1912-1923) - British Documents on Armenian Question (1912-1923) -
Turkish-Russian Academics: A Historical Study on the Caucasus -
Gürcistan'daki Müslüman Topluluklar: Azınlık Hakları, Kimlik, Siyaset -
Armenian Diaspora: Diaspora, State and the Imagination of the Republic of Armenia -
ERMENİ SORUNU - TEMEL BİLGİ VE BELGELER (2. BASKI)
-
CONFERENCE TITLED “HUNGARY’S PERSPECTIVES ON THE TURKIC WORLD"