Party Representing Interests Of Donbas Residents May Be Created In Ukraine - Politician

KIEV (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th September, 2018) A political force that will represent the interests of Donbas region and the Russian-speaking population may be created in Ukraine and may be able to nominate a president candidate in the 2019 election, leader of the Ukrainian Choice - Right of People public movement, Viktor Medvedchuk, said Monday.

According to Medvedchuk, negotiations are going on between the For Life party, in which he entered, the Opposition Block, as well as the Ukrainian Choice - Right of People movement.

"I'm not saying that there are results in this unification process that could already be seen, but this process is ongoing," Medvedchuk said in an interview with the Ukrainian broadcaster NewsOne.

In case of successful negotiations, the alliance may nominate a candidate for president, he said.

"It is necessary to choose a candidate somewhere in December, before the presidential election campaign begins," the politician added.

The presidential elections in Ukraine will be held in the spring of 2019.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko occupies Russophobic, radically anti-Russian position, but sooner or later the situation between the two countries should change, as it hurts Ukraine, Medvedchuk noted.

The politician also said that one should not expect any progress in the negotiations of US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker and Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov.

The LPR and the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), located in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, proclaimed their independence from Kiev in 2014, refusing to recognize the new central government. The secession prompted Kiev to begin a military operation in the area. The conflict between the Donbas republics and the Ukrainian central authorities has claimed lives of over 10,000 people and is still ongoing.