Lugansk People's Republic to Hold Local Elections on April 24 - Decree

LUHANSK (Sputnik) — Local elections in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) in eastern Ukraine will be held on April 24, according to a decree by LPR leader Igor Plotnitsky.

Last month, LPR envoy to Contact Group talks Vladislav Deinego announced that the region was mulling holding elections on February 21 without Ukraine's participation over Kiev’s avoidance of implementing the Minsk agreements on the Ukrainian reconciliation.

"Postpone the date of the first local elections in territories designated by the decree of the head of the Luhansk People's Republic…from February 21 to April 24, 2016," the decree, posted on Friday on Plotnitsky's official website, says.

Kiev has been conducting a military operation in Ukraine’s eastern regions since April 2014. In February, Kiev and Donbas militia signed a deal on Ukrainian reconciliation in Minsk, which stipulated a ceasefire and the withdrawal of weapons from the line of contact.

Under the deal, constitutional reforms aimed at decentralizing power in Ukraine and the initiation of local elections in Donbas must have been concluded before the end of 2015. Donetsk and Luhansk agreed to postpone their local elections until 2016. Before elections in those regions can take place, Ukraine authorities must fulfill all the Minsk agreement obligations.

Earlier in the day, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine Alexander Zakharchenko said local elections in the DPR should not be expected earlier than in 2017.