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Kostyantyn Ivashchenko, a local council member from the pro-Russian party Opposition Platform, was pronounced "mayor" of Mariupol on April 4 during a meeting of party members. According to Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the real mayor of Mariupol, the Russian military who control part of Mariupol brought other council members to the meeting at gunpoint and forced them to "vote" for Ivashchenko. Ivashchenko's show has no legal meaning: There is no procedure to elect the mayor in this way.
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