Interfax: Ukraine election to be legitimate, if “punitive operation” stops – Kremlin

(Interfax – May 8, 2014) Presidential election in Ukraine will be considered legitimate only if the “punitive operation” in the country’s southeast stops, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitriy Peskov told privately-owned news agency Interfax on 8 May.

“Election (in Ukraine – Interfax), as President Putin said yesterday, is a move in the right direction, but they may be legitimate only if this punitive operation [in Ukraine’s southeast] stops and only if a direct inter-Ukrainian dialogue opens,” Peskov said.

Back on 7 May, Vladimir Putin said after the meeting with his Swiss counterpart and current OSCE Chairman Didier Burkhalter that the presidential election planned in Kiev was “a move in the right direction”.