DONETSK. Dec 10 (Interfax) - The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) believes that the European Union's introducing sanctions against representatives from the DPR and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) was creating an atmosphere of mutual mistrust.
"The introduction of individual sanctions by the EU against the republics' officials will be no good for either party to the conflict. (...) Such actions are creating an atmosphere of mutual mistrust in the negotiating process, thus delaying the prospect of peaceful settlement," DPR foreign minister Natalya Nikonorova told journalists on Monday.
The ban on entering the EU and doing business there will not be a serious loss for DPR officials and representatives, she said. "Yet again, instead of de-escalating the conflict, Kyiv's Western partners are wasting time and energy on pointless and absolutely inefficient sanctions," Nikonorova said.
The Council of the European Union has added nine individuals involved in the elections held in the DPR and the LPR in early November to its sanctions lists on Ukraine.
The list of nine sanctioned DPR and LPR individuals includes newly elected LPR leader Leonid Pasechnik, DPR Central Elections Commissions head Olga Pozdnyakova, LPR Central Elections Commissions head Yelena Kravchenko, DPR parliament speaker Vladimir Bidyovka, LPR parliament speaker Denis Miroshnichenko, DPR Central Elections Commission deputy head Alexei Naidenko, DPR Central Elections Commission secretary Vladimir Vysotsky, and LPR Central Elections Commission deputy heads Yekaterina Tereshchenko and Maxim Svidchenko.