By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
The U.S. on Monday denounced elections held in eastern Ukraine during the weekend as a “sham.”
Pro-Russian separatists went to the polls Sunday in two self-proclaimed people’s republics in Donetsk and Luhansk regions in defiance of the central government in Kiev.
“These sham elections contravened Ukraine’s constitution, the law on ‘special status,’ and the most basic electoral norms,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement.
The U.S. previously said that it would not recognize the outcome of the elections – a position echoed Monday by State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki.
“The United States deplores and does not recognize yesterday’s so-called separatist elections in eastern Ukraine, nor do we recognize any of the leaders chosen in this illegal vote,” Psaki told reporters.
She added that if Russia recognizes the elections “it would only serve to isolate it further.”
The U.S. and its western allies have previously issued several rounds of sanctions on Russia for what they claim is Russia’s destabilizing actions in Ukraine.
The elections organized by the separatists come only a week after the Ukrainian government in Kiev scheduled its own official general elections for Dec. 7.
Meehan said that Russia and rebel forces in eastern Ukraine violated an agreement signed in Minsk, Belarus, on Sept. 5 by holding the elections.
The Minsk agreement was signed after extensive talks between Russia, Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or OSCE.
“Moscow’s continued failure to fulfill its obligations under the Minsk agreements calls into question its commitment to supporting a peaceful resolution to the conflict in parts of eastern Ukraine,” Meehan said. “We call on Russia’s leaders to adhere to the commitments they made in Minsk to include the full withdrawal of foreign forces, the restoration of Ukrainian control of its sovereignty over the border with OSCE monitoring, and local elections in accordance with the special status law.”
The agreement, which followed previous attempts to stop fighting in the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine, implemented an immediate cease-fire that failed to stop fighting in the eastern region of Donbass.
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