War in Ukraine: Lugansk separatist leader says he could organize referendum to join Russia

The leader of the Ukrainian separatist region of Lugansk said on Sunday that he could organize a referendum to decide if the territory becomes part of Russiaafter Moscow sent troops to this pro-Russian territory.

“I think that in the near future a referendum will be organized on the territory of the Republic in which people will be able to (…) express their opinion on whether to join the Russian Federation,” Russian agencies reported citing the leader of the Lugansk separatists, Leonid Pasechnik.

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“For some reason, I’m sure this will be the case,” Indian.

Russia launched military action in Ukraine at the end of February, stating that it was an act of defense in favor of the pro-Russian rebel groups in the east, who proclaimed themselves the “republics” of Donetsk and Lugansk.

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Before the offensive, the Russian president, Vladimir Putinrecognized the independence of these two regions.

The announcement of a possible referendum sparked mixed reactions among Russian lawmakers.

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“I think it’s not the right time for that,” said Leonid Kalashnikov, a lawmaker who heads the commission on relations with the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States in the lower house of the Russian parliament.

“You don’t need to deal with those issues when you’re deciding your fate on the front lines,” the state news agency TASS said.

But according to Andrei Klishas, ​​head of the constitutional legislation committee of the Upper House, these two regions have every right to determine their own future.

“Russia recognized the sovereignty of the people’s republics of Luhansk and Donetsk”he told the state news agency RIA Novosti.

“The authorities of these republics have the right to make any decision in accordance with their constitutions,” he added.

The Ukrainian government, for its part, criticized the proposal, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko describing it as part of continuing Russian efforts to “undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“Any false referendums in the temporarily occupied territories are null and void and will have no legal validity”he said in written statements to AFP.

A large part of these industrialized territories, which are mostly home to the Russian-parliamentary population, left the control of Ukraine when the conflict broke out in 2014, which has left more than 14,000 dead.

Russia that year annexed the peninsula of crimeawhich was a Ukrainian territory, after the overthrow of a leader close to Moscow and this secondment to Russia was carried out after the organization of a referendum in this region of southern Ukraine.

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Source: Elcomercio

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