MOSCOW, March 31 (RIA Novosti) - The legitimacy of the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine depends upon "transparency, fairness and taking the interests of the regions into account," a senior Russian diplomat said Monday.
"We hope that the conditions for holding the election will be provided for," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told journalists in Moscow.
The comments came shortly after the kickoff of campaigning for Ukraine's May 25 presidential elections on Saturday. Twenty-four candidates have so far announced their plans to join the race, seven of whom have already been registered by authorities.
Karasin said that Ukraine, which has been in the throes of a political crisis since late November, must undertake major constitutional reform, taking the views of the country's disparate regions into account. "The success of any election held in Ukraine depends mainly on this," he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry agreed at talks in Paris on Sunday to seek a diplomatic solution to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, showing signs of agreement on the need for a federal constitution in the country.
"We were united with John Kerry in thinking that Ukrainians should themselves ensure the inclusive nature of this process," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters. "We firmly believe that the current leadership in Kiev must offer all regions the right to participate in the constitutional reform process on an equal footing."
Crimea, previously an autonomous republic within Ukraine, refused to recognize the legitimacy of the government in Kiev which seized power as a result of a coup last month, instead rejoining Russia following a referendum on the issue.
Other mainly Russian-speaking regions of eastern Ukraine have challenged the legitimacy of the new authorities in the country. Rallies have swept across eastern Ukraine, the industrial center of the country, with residents demanding a referendum to decide on the future of their own regions.
Russia has consistently warned that the new government in Ukraine has a dangerous fascist element of Ukrainian ultranationalism, leading Moscow to take steps to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine.
