President of France Francois Hollande urges his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin not to recognize the pseudo-elections in the east of Ukraine, otherwise Western sanctions against Russia will not be cancelled.
He said this during his state visit to Canada on Monday, a special correspondent of Ukrinform reports.
“I urge President Putin to remain within the frames of the Minsk agreement, which opened a way to the truce of September 5,” Hollande stressed, speaking in the Canadian parliament.
“According to him, sanctions against Russia are “necessary… but they cannot be the only response.” “The aim consists in convincing Moscow and separatists to refuse from escalation and return to a dialogue,” the President of France added.
Hollande is in Canada on his first three-day state visit. During the visit, the French leader met with Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper, Canadian parliamentarians, leader of the Canadian opposition Thomas Mulcair, French community in Canada, power representatives and opposition of the Canadian province Quebec.
To remind, the Russian MFA stated November 3 that elections in Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, held by terrorists, on the whole were “well organized and with high voter turnout.” The Russian Foreign Ministry also said that they “respect the will of the south-east residents,” but there was not a direct quote that Russia recognizes these elections.
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