Vienna, November 1, 2014 – The “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR) and “Luhansk People’s Republic” (LNR), which are officially considered terrorist organisations by the Ukrainian authorities, will hold “parliamentary elections” on Sunday, November 2, on the territories occupied by them with the help of the Russian army.
These “elections” are widely considered illegal and illegitimate, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon deplored “the planned holding by armed rebel groups in eastern Ukraine of their own ‘elections’ on 2 November, in breach of the Constitution and national law” adding that “these ‘elections’ will seriously undermine the Minsk Protocol and Memorandum, which need to be urgently implemented in full.”
Nevertheless, the Kremlin is said to be willing to recognise these “elections”, yet again completely dismissing the advice from the UN let alone defying the laws of Ukraine that Russia has invaded in February-March 2014. The DNR/LNR “elections” will not be recognised as legitimate either by the EU or the US, that threaten Russia with further sanctions for undermining Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty.
As it happened before, the Kremlin will employ puppet “election monitors” who will “observe” and legitimise the “elections” held by the terrorists. Evidence suggests that two “election monitoring organisations” have been in charge of setting up “election observation mission” for the DNR/LNR: the Eurasian Observatory of Democracy and Elections (EODE) run by the Belgian fascist Luc Michel and the European Centre for Geopolitical Analysis (ECGA) run by Polish far-right politician Mateusz Piskorski – both of whom have been in the service of the Kremlin’s foreign policy since 2005-2006.
(L-R ) The leader of the DNR terrorists Aleksandr Zakharchenko and Mateusz Piskorski, 1 November 2014, Donetsk
(L-R) The leader of the DNR terrorists Aleksandr Zakharchenko and Fabrice Beaur (EODE / extreme-right Parti communautaire national-européen), 1 November 2014, Donetsk
The following names of international “observers” hired by the EODE and ECGA can be disclosed [updated on November 3]:
As my analysis of the movements of these international “election monitors” shows, they arrived to Donetsk from Moscow via Rostov-on-Don. This means that they have all entered Ukraine illegally, as they did not pass the official Ukrainian border control. Thus, they can be all prosecuted for the crime of illegal border crossing.
Press conference of international “observers” in Donbass, 1 November 2014. Second from left is Alessandro Musolino, third is Ewald Stadler. Photo by Alec Luhn
According to Moscow-based journalist Alec Luhn, at the press conference in Donbass, the international “observers” suggested creating the Association for Security and Cooperation in Europe (ASCE), but then Stadler proposed the name “Agency for Security and Cooperation in Europe” (ASCE). The name obviously refers to the Oganisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), an international organisation that, in particular, monitors elections in different parts of the world. Since it provides objective and independent monitoring of elections and referenda, the OSCE is hated by the EODE and ECGA, as well as Russian authorities.
However, while constantly vilifying and trying to discredit the OSCE’s observation missions, Russian state-controlled media intentionally present fake “election monitors” as members of the OSCE. For example, in March 2014, the Russian TV channel Rossiya 24 claimed that notorious fascist Michel was “the organiser of the OSCE observation mission” at the illegal “referendum in Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea that Russia annexed afterwards.
Belgian fascist Luc Michel, the head of the EODE, in Crimea. The caption reads: “Organiser of the OSCE observation mission in Crimea”
In the same vein, on November 1, Russia’s major disinformation source, RIA Novosti claimed that OSCE monitors were present at polling stations controlled by the DNR/LNR terrorists.
The OSCE has promptly responded:
No OSCE #observation of so-called “elections” in east #Ukraine Sunday 2 November and no OSCE monitors at polling stations – SG Zannier
— OSCE (@OSCE) November 1, 2014
This imposturous presentation of Belgian fascist Luc Michel, to the Russian-speaking audience, as the “organiser of the OSCE observation mission” and frequent references to the OSCE monitors allegedly present at dubious “elections” reveal the high status value of the OSCE even in the generally anti-Western context of today’s Russia.
The “elections” planned for November 2 may be a start of a new offensive of the DNR/LNR extremists against the Ukrainian forces. There is a non-zero chance of a false flag operation against either the “observers” or people at “polling stations” that would be a pretext for such an offensive. Someone may be killed by the (pro-)Russian extremists dressed in uniforms of Ukrainian forces to discredit Ukraine and/or divert the international attention from the illegitimate “elections” to the killing(s) of “election observers” or “voters”. The chances are low, but such a development cannot be ruled out.