DONETSK, November 2 (RIA Novosti) – An Austrian observer called on Europe to acknowledge the elections held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine.
"I believe the result will reflect the public opinion of the people here in Donetsk. My appeal is that the European countries should accept the people's will. Please accept their will and their opinion, and please be fair about this," Ewald Stadtler said during a press conference in the republic's capital of Donetsk.
On Sunday, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics held elections to choose their regional leaders and representatives of legislative bodies.
A total of 100 observers from a number of European countries and the United States arrived in the region to monitor the elections.
The authorities in the European Union and the United States said earlier the elections would come against the Minsk agreement on the regulation of the crisis in Donbas, and that the international community would not recognize them.
Meanwhile, Russia has expressed its intention to recognize the elections in the self-proclaimed people's republics, saying that the not recognizing of the elections would actually run counter to the Minsk protocol and disrupt the progress toward finding a sustainable political solution to the conflict.
