Denis Pushilin to run for Donetsk People’s Republic leader

Acting head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin stated that he is presenting his candidature for the post of DPR’s leader at the elections set to take place on November 11.

"We will continue the deed that Alexander Vladimirovich [Zakharchenko] devoted his life to, and gave his life to. We are defending the choice that the people made on May 11, 2014," Pushilin stressed. "The murderers of Alexander Zakharchenko miscalculated. They were not able to scare us and to lead us astray."

On September 7, the DPR parliament appointed its speaker Denis Pushilin as acting head of the republic. He will stand at the head of the republic until the election scheduled for November 11.

Pushilin was elected speaker of the People’s Council in September 2015. He has served as the DPR’s envoy to the talks of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine in the Belarusian capital of Minsk since November 2014. Pushilin combines the duties of the Council speaker and Prime Minister now.

Pushilin also signed a resolution appointing three acting deputy prime ministers and a provisional composition of the DPR government.

The former Prime Minister, Alexander Zakharchenko, died in an explosion in Donetsk on August 31.