Western governments regularly disagree with the Kremlin over the meaning of democracy and free elections. Nevertheless, Western diplomacy currently supports Moscow’s goal for local elections to be staged in the Russian-controlled territory of Ukraine’s east. If validated as apparently intended by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), such elections would legitimize the pro-Russia authorities in that territory. Holding an electoral mandate, but fronting for Russia, the authorities of Donetsk and Luhansk could then be seated at the table with Ukraine’s central government, to negotiate an “internal” Ukrainian constitutional settlement.
That would introduce an entirely new paradigm of “conflict …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation