WASHINGTON, November 4 (RIA Novosti) — The United States does not recognize Sunday's elections in eastern Ukraine and believes that Russia's support of the independence push there will only serve to isolate it further, US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said at a briefing.
"The United States deplores and does not recognize yesterday's so-called separatist elections in eastern Ukraine, nor do we recognize any of the leaders chosen in this illegal vote," Psaki said late on Monday.
"We also welcome statements from the European Union, the United Nations, France, Germany, and others rejecting these illegal and illegitimate actions," she added.
"If Russia were to recognize the so-called elections, it would only serve to isolate it further," the spokeswoman emphasized.
She threatened the governments of the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics (LPR and DPR) with "a range of tools" and stressed Washington would not be working with the newly elected leaders in the east Ukrainian territories.
"We're going to continue to work with the central Government of Ukraine… We're going to continue to press for the implementation of the Minsk Agreement and all of the specific steps that are included in there," Psaki noted.
On November 2, the regions voted in the presidential and parliamentary elections that Kiev said it would never recognize.
Russia said it would recognize the results of the elections in eastern Ukraine since it meant the regions would have their own legitimate representatives at the negotiations with Kiev. In return, the White House warned Moscow of additional costs following its support of what it called as "sham" elections.
The United States has already imposed three rounds of sanctions against Russia beginning in March of this year. Moscow responded with counter-measures taking aim at European imports, particularly agriculture products.
