MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Denis Pushilin was elected on Friday interim speaker of the parliament (People's Council) of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine, a source told RIA Novosti.
"Pushilin is the interim head of the DPR People's Council," the source, who spoke on the phone on condition of anonymity, said.
According to the source, the decision was adopted at an extraordinary meeting of the People's Council.
The post of the speaker was previously held by Andrei Purgin.
The replacement of speaker of Ukraine's southeastern self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Andrei Purgin with former deputy speaker Denis Pushilin is related to the former's anti-DPR policy, Pushilin said.
"The last straw for the deputies was today's attempt [by Purgin] to disrupt the meeting of the People's Council, when the deputies had to listen to false declarations made with the aim of increasing tensions and destabilizing the situation," Pushilin said as quoted by the Donetsk News Agency.
