Donetsk, Mar 19 - DAN. European countries activists urged the international community not to recognise the upcoming presidential election in Ukraine as Kiev denied the voting right to millions of Ukrainians living in Russia and Donbass. The petition Stop Fake Elections in Ukraine was published on change.org

“Millions of Ukrainians living abroad, especially in Russia and Donbass, have been denied their basic civil right to vote in the coming presidential elections in March 2019. Only this fact makes the Ukrainian elections void and illegal,” the petition said.

The authors of the document brought forward a number of demands such as the restoration of the legal rights of all Ukrainian citizens and resolution of the conflict in Donbass in accordance with the Minsk Agreements.

“Petro Poroshenko became president due to the support of right-wing extremists after the violent Maidan coup. Poroshenko heads the Kiev ”war party” today, he and his military junta are responsible for killing peaceful people and children of Donbass. To achieve peace, we must restore democracy and civil rights by creating international pressure to get the necessary changes in the government of Ukraine and respond to the actions of its western allies! It's time to stop the bloody civil war, which has seriously undermined the stability of Europe! Poroshenko and his gang must leave!,” the petition said.

The petition was published by Finnish journalist and political analyst Janus Putkonen. It can be accessed on the Interent. More than 5,800 people had signed the petition by the time the report was published.

The presidential election in Ukraine is scheduled for March 31. According to the latest reports, 39 presidential candidates were registered, a record number in the history of independent Ukraine. Ukraine set up 101 voting stations in 72 countries across the world including Australia, Poland, Canada, Germany, Georgia, the Republic of the Congo and the partially recognised Kosovo. Meanwhile, millions of Ukrainians living in Russia cannot realise their voting right. The Ukrainian Central Election Commission eliminated the voting stations in Russia moving them to Georgia, Kazakhstan and Finland.*jk*pp