BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) – The foreign ministers of four Central European countries and Britain have condemned a plan by pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine to hold local elections.
In a common statement Thursday after their meeting in Bratislava, the ministers called the vote set for Sunday “illegitimate” and said it breached a cease-fire deal reached in Minsk, Belarus, last month.
The ministers representing Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland and their British counterpart, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, have also urged Russia not to recognize the vote as it has pledged to do. They say only a vote held according to Ukraine’s laws can be legitimate.
The 28-nation European Union has already warned that it wouldn’t recognize the rebel vote.
Russia says the vote’s rejection could undermine the entire peace settlement.