Ukrainian MFA's reaction to 'election observers' in Donetsk

BELGRADE/KIEV - Serbian Ambassador in Kiev Rade Bulatovic was summoned to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) over two Serbian MPs' visit during the recent elections in Donbass that Kiev does not recognize.

As the Ukrainian foreign ministry stated in a release, Ukraine's First Deputy Foreign Minister Natalia Halybarenko met Bulatovic on Tuesday.
"The Serbian side was informed about Ukraine's position on the participation of 'observers' from the Serbian political parties in 'fake elections' in the east of Ukraine on November 2, 2014," reads the release on the Ukrainian foreign ministry's website.

The Serbian Foreign Ministry said in a release on Wednesday that representatives of Serbia's official institutions were not employed as observers nor were they in any way involved in the electoral process in the east of Ukraine on November 2.
The ministry stressed that Serbia respects the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

As Belgrade's media reported on Wednesday, Halybarenko met Bulatovic because MPs of the leading party of the ruling coalition, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS)- Vladimir Djukanovic and Branislav Blazic- were observers in the elections in Donetsk, which were organized by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.

In reply to the question posed by the head of the parliamentary group of the opposition Democratic Party (DS) Borislav Stefanovic concerning his trip to Donetsk, Djukanovic said in the Serbian parliament on Tuesday that he went to the elections of his own free will, as a citizen, not in his capacity as an MP.

He said that he "observed the elections in the Donetsk People's Republic with colleague Blazic", and that they went there at an invitation from a friend "from...