Ukraine can’t accept “at first elections in occupied Donbass and then the border" - Gerashchenko on Hollande’s statement

First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Irina Gerashchenko noted that the statement of French President Francois Hollande on the need for elections on the occupied territory of the pro-Russian militants of Donbass had nothing new and simply stated the EU position. She wrote a post about it on her Facebook page.

"I can see how the words of the French President for Donbass troubled Internet. In fact, he said nothing new. It is the position of France and Germany that represents the EU's position: security – elections by the Ukrainian legislation and international standards, it is important and it is what Hollande said yesterday,” - she said.

Gerashchenko added that the position that Ukraine kept at all levels was "realistic, but not fantastic and not different."

"Security (not a week without shellfire but the implementation of the security bloc completely together with the withdrawal of foreign weapons and equipment) - a humanitarian bloc (release of all illegally detained without any indecent blackmail with amnesty which should enter into force only with the political bloc) - border ( OSCE SMM should be on the border now!) - political bloc (elections under Ukrainian law and with international supervision). That’s the position we keep. Elections stand with European observers," - wrote Gerashchenko.

She stressed that if today members and staff of the European Parliament and national parliaments of Europe are banned to visit Donbass for security reasons, no elections there can be considered.

"The political group in Minsk has no compromise on the modality (elections) so-called. "Primaries" in SDDLR were held according to Kremlin's scenario, but not by Ukrainian laws, therefore, it is not possible to talk about elections in the near future," - she summed up.

As reported earlier, French President Francois Hollande said that the priority was to hold local elections, but not to return control over the Ukrainian-Russian border to Kiev. Commenting on the question of whether it is possible to transform Donbass into "frozen conflict" zone, the French President said that that prospect was real.