What did Kyiv's allies say about the 11 November 2018 votes?
A look back at the reaction to the November 2018 elections in the self-proclaimed DNR and LNR, alongside two other events of the preceding days.
What did the outside world make of the elections held in the self-proclaimed DNR and LNR, as seen from 13 November 2018? Two days earlier, on 11 November 2018, the votes had taken place in those territories, and the reactions had already been recorded.
According to reports at the time, the European Union, the United States and Japan declared that holding the elections violated the Minsk agreements. Germany and France went further in their wording, regarding the elections as illegal. Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that Ukraine would not recognise the vote.
Other moments of the same week
The days before 13 November 2018 also carried other public events. On 10 November 2018, Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tony Bellew by knockout and defended his title as undisputed world champion.
On 8 November 2018, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a resolution on marking at state level the 75th anniversary of the start of the deportation of Ukrainians from Poland, which took place in 1944–1951.
Taken together, these reports show a few days in which diplomacy, sport and remembrance politics each had their moment. The international response to the 11 November elections was the most directly political: a shared line from Western capitals and Tokyo, matched by Kyiv's refusal to recognise the outcome.
