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EU terms east Ukraine sovereignty votes as illegal

Iran Press TV

Sun May 11, 2014 10:57PM GMT

The European Union has said that it will not recognize the outcomes of referendums on declaring sovereignty in eastern Ukraine.

Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said on Sunday that "The so-called referenda in ... parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions were illegal and we do not recognize the outcome. Those who organized the referenda have no democratic legitimacy.'

Kocijancic also said that holding the referendums did not follow the objectives of an agreement reached last month.

On April 17, Kiev's interim government together with the United States, Russia and the EU reached the agreement in the Swiss city of Geneva, calling for all sides to ease the ongoing crisis in eastern Ukraine, where anti-Kiev protesters keep occupying state buildings in several towns and cities.

On Sunday, polls closed in several eastern Ukrainian cities after people cast their ballots in the referendums.

Earlier in the day, Ukraine's National Guard troops took control of two state buildings in the city of Krasnoarmeysk in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk.

Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are home to about 7.3 million of the 46 million population of Ukraine, have seen deadly clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia protesters in recent weeks.

The Ukrainian crisis began last November when the country's then president Viktor Yanukovych refrained from signing an Association Agreement with the EU in favor of closer ties with Russia.

The refusal triggered months of unrest and clashes with the police, which finally led to the ouster of Yanukovych on February 23. He then travelled to Russia, where he was given sanctuary.

Ukraine has experienced a fresh wave of unrest since Crimea declared independence from Kiev on March 17 and formally applied to become part of Russia following a referendum a day earlier, in which nearly 97 percent of the participants voted in favor of the move.

SRK/MAM/AS