The “Normandy” powers’ (Ukraine, Germany, France, Russia) latest meeting, in Berlin, on May 11, which failed to address Ukraine’s concerns, has stiffened Kyiv’s refusal to go along with local “elections” in the Donetsk and Luhansk “peoples’ republics” (DPR, LPR). That territory is Ukrainian de jure but Russian-occupied de facto. The Minsk Two armistice prescribes those elections, but does not obligate Ukraine to consent to their staging or recognize their outcome.
Russia presses for those “elections” to legitimize its DPR-LPR proxies. Key Western powers (in varying degrees and for varying considerations) are leaning on Ukraine to go along with quick-fix elections there …read more
Source: The Jamestown Foundation