Kyiv has co-signed with Russia and the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” (DPR, LPR) a commitment to: a) accept the holding of “local elections” in that Russian-controlled territory of Ukraine and b) accept the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) monitoring and assessment of the democratic validity of such “elections.” Under those documents, signed on October 1, the OSCE’s validation of those “elections” would qualify the Donetsk-Luhansk territory for a permanent “special status,” as originally prescribed by the Russia-dictated Minsk armistice (see Eurasia Daily Monitor, September 17, 24, 25, 26, October 3).
For the first time in the history of Russia-orchestrated conflicts, the OSCE now declares itself prepared to observe and evaluate elections in a territory occupied or controlled by Russia – in this case, in Ukraine’s Donbas. The OSCE is thereby breaking with its own practice of refusing to take notice of such elections.