Ireland is to send a team of 18 electoral observers to monitor the May 25th elections in Ukraine as part of an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission to the country.
The short-term observers will travel to Ukraine a number of days before the elections and remain in the country until after the election. Ireland already has one long-term observer in Ukraine as part of a 100- strong OSCE team that is in situ in advance of the elections.
Ireland periodically takes part in OSCE electoral missions in different parts of the world. It has been a member of the organisation since 1973, holding the chairmanship of the body for the first time in 2012.
The observers will be based at polling stations around the country to monitor voting, the counting of ballots and the opening and closing times of booths.
The electoral mission to Ukraine is separate to the special monitoring mission to Ukraine which saw eight of its volunteers kidnapped by pro-Russian forces last month.
Meanwhile, the European Union widened its sanctions against Russia today but refrained from imposing more hard-hitting economic or political sanctions on the country, pledging to await the outcome of the presidential elections on May 25th.
EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels added 13 new individuals and, for the first time, two companies to the list of individuals subject to asset freezes and travel bans.
No discussion of 'phase three' sanctions took place at the meeting, Minister for European Affairs Pascal Donohue said following the meeting, noting that the European Commission was continuing to work on the preparation of deeper sanctions if needed.
“What matters is the degree of unity shown to date. There was full agreement form everybody today that these 13 individuals and 2 companies should be put on the list in recognition of the situation in Ukraine . As has always been the case, this is a list, a plan that will be under continuous review, “ he said.
While the decision to target two companies for the first time marks a new stage in the EU’s response to the crisis in Ukraine, it still falls short of the measures taken by the US, which has already targeted 17 companies.
In a joint declaration after the meeting, the foreign affairs council said that the EU would “pay particular attention to all parties’ attitude and behaviour towards the holding of free and fair presidential elections when deciding about possible future measures.”
Mr Donohue said Ireland had stressed that the elections scheduled for May 25th must take place in an “orderly legal and inclusive manner,” but foreign ministers decline to speculate as to what specific developments would trigger Phase Three sanctions.
A total of 48 Russian and Ukrainian individuals have already been subject to asset freezes and visa bans by the EU since Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
Speaking at a separate event in Brussels organised by the think-tank Carnegie Europe, Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorsi said that third-stage sanctions needed to be "intelligently conceived." "Most sanctions in the history of diplomacy have not worked. We need to be careful not to hurt ourselves more, " he said.
Describing President Putin as “strategically bold and tactically flexible,” the Polish foreign minister said he believed the Russian president’s preferred option would be for all of Ukraine to join the Eurasian union. “He will do what he can get away with.”
Representatives of the self-declared ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ called on Russia to absorb the region into the Russian federation following Sunday’s referendum, in which over 90 per cent voted for self-rule according to the rebels. Kiev and the Western community have dismissed the poll as farcical.
Following President Putin's call for separatists to postpone the weekend's referendum last Thursday, Moscow said yesterday it "respects the will of the population", adding that the results should be implemented "peacefully."
"These attempts at referendums have zero credibility in the eyes of the world, they are illegal by anybody's standards," British foreign secretary William Hague said in Brussels, echoing the comments of numerous EU foreign ministers.
