DONETSK, November 1 (RIA Novosti) — Security agencies in east Ukraine’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk have been altered to the Ukrainian government’s plot to disrupt Sunday’s elections and are working together to secure the polls, they said in a joint statement on Saturday.
Authorities in the breakaway regions said that in the run-up to the local elections, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) had been circulating reports that warned about terror attack plots. They described these allegations as an attempt to intimidate the voters.
“They hope to curb the voter turnout,” the Ministries of the State Security in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics said.
“Law enforcement agencies of the people’s republics have been alerted to the planned subversive activities by Ukrainian forces and have taken steps to prevent them. We guarantee safety at the elections. The situation is under control,” they vowed.
On Sunday, residents in parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions will vote for regional leaders and legislative bodies after the regions said they would ignore a separate elections day set by the government in Kiev.
Both regions were earlier granted special status under a law passed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. The same law also scheduled local elections for December 7.
The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have meanwhile condemned the upcoming elections claiming they undermined the agreements reached in early September between Kiev and militias in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.
Russia said it was going to recognize the results of the polls since they would help to "legitimize power" in the region.
