US Calls To Boycott Donbas Elections Show 'Double Standards' - Donetsk Envoy

DONETSK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th November, 2018) The US call to boycott this Sunday's elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics demonstrate a clear double standard, the Donetsk region envoy to the contact group in Minsk said.

The two breakaway regions, collectively referred to as Donbas, will vote for leaders and parliaments. Kiev said it would not recognize results of the polls.

"The hype surrounding elections in the republics and attempts by Kiev and its Western sponsors to cast them as illegal demonstrate an obvious double standard," Natalia Nikonorova said.

In the statement carried by the Donetsk republic's foreign relations department, she called elections a pillar of democracy, saying calls to boycott the vote by a nation that "presents itself as a bulwark of democracy are impressive."

The US embassy in Ukraine published an address to residents of the two regions on Wednesday urging them to boycott what it described as "sham elections" and again accused Russia of stoking unrest.