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Russia, Western Powers Clash At UN Over Elections In Eastern Ukraine
The Geneva Conventions, the Hague Regulations, and the Minsk Protocol, together with the UNGA, US, EU, and OSCE, declare any elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine to be null and void unless held under Ukraine legislation and law and with OSCE monitors. Legal elections can only be held under the Laws of Ukraine.
According to Article 43 of the Hague Regulations:
"Article 43 bars an occupying power from extending its own legislation over the occupied territory or from acting as a sovereign legislator. It must, as a matter of principle, respect the laws in force in the occupied territory at the beginning of the occupation."
According to the Minsk II Accords:
4. On the first day after the pullout a dialogue is to start on modalities of conducting local elections in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation and the Law of Ukraine "On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts," and also about the future of these districts based on the above-mentioned law.
9. Based on the Law of Ukraine "On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts", questions related to local elections will be discussed and agreed upon with representatives of particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group. Elections will be held in accordance with relevant OSCE standards and monitored by OSCE/ODIHR.
The Russian Federation and its pro-Russia rebels agreed with and signed the Minsk II Accords on 11 February 2015.
Russia has clashed with the United States and European powers at the United Nations over the legality of elections in areas of eastern Ukraine held by Moscow-backed separatists. During debate on the planned elections in Donetsk and Luhansk on November 11, the UN's political chief said she backed the Western view that the votes would violate a 2015 accord laying out steps for settling the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The position taken by UN political chief Rosemary DiCarlo left Russia isolated at the UN Security Council meeting. Western allies also blocked Russia from bringing a Luhansk separatist official, Olena Kravchenko, before the council to provide a briefing on the elections. Before the meeting began, a joint statement from France, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium, and Germany was read outside the council chamber condemning what they called "the illegitimate 'elections' planned for November 11." The statement said such elections would violate Ukrainian law and "contravene commitments" made by separatists and Russia under the 2015 agreement reached in Minsk, Belarus.
The European Union countries urged the international community to unite in opposing the elections, saying the votes "can only serve to undermine efforts to achieve peace in the region." The U.S. deputy ambassador to the UN, Jonathan Cohen, later also claimed the "sham elections staged by Russia" violated the Minsk agreement, which states that elections must be held in accordance with Ukrainian law and be supervised by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Cohen said the Kremlin was using the elections to bolster the authorities it has installed in Donetsk and Luhansk, which he said "are inseparable from the illegal armed groups controlled by Moscow." DiCarlo said the Minsk agreements, which were endorsed by the Security Council, are the only agreed framework for a negotiated peace in eastern Ukraine. She warned that any elections held "outside Ukraine's constitutional and legal framework would be incompatible with the Minsk agreements." Ukrainian Ambassador Volodymyr Yelchenko repeated Ukraine's position that the results of what he called the "fake" November 11 elections will be "null and void."
The Geneva Conventions, the Hague Regulations, and the Minsk Protocol, together with the UNGA, US, EU, and OSCE, declare any elections in the occupied territories of Ukraine to be null and void unless held under Ukraine legislation and law and with OSCE monitors. Legal elections can only be held under the Laws of Ukraine.
According to Article 43 of the Hague Regulations:
"Article 43 bars an occupying power from extending its own legislation over the occupied territory or from acting as a sovereign legislator. It must, as a matter of principle, respect the laws in force in the occupied territory at the beginning of the occupation."
According to the Minsk II Accords:
4. On the first day after the pullout a dialogue is to start on modalities of conducting local elections in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation and the Law of Ukraine "On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts," and also about the future of these districts based on the above-mentioned law.
9. Based on the Law of Ukraine "On temporary Order of Local Self-Governance in Particular Districts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts", questions related to local elections will be discussed and agreed upon with representatives of particular districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in the framework of the Trilateral Contact Group. Elections will be held in accordance with relevant OSCE standards and monitored by OSCE/ODIHR.
The Russian Federation and its pro-Russia rebels agreed with and signed the Minsk II Accords on 11 February 2015.