(Moscow) Pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine announced on Tuesday the holding of referendums to integrate Russia from September 23 to 27.
Posted at 6:22
Updated at 8:33 a.m.
These elections will take place in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, whose independence Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized shortly before launching his offensive against Ukraine last February.
The integration into Russia of these regions, which pro-Russian separatists took control of in 2014 with the support of Moscow, would represent a major escalation in the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia has already annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea (south) in 2014, an attachment ratified by a referendum which had been preceded by a military intervention and which is denounced as illegal by Kyiv and the West.
It was the head of the self-proclaimed “Parliament” of the Luhansk region, Denis Miroshnichenko, who first announced the election dates on Tuesday.
“The Council of the Nation decides to set the dates for the vote for the referendum from September 23 to September 27, 2022,” he said, as quoted by the official Luhansk news portal.
Shortly after, the official Donetsk news agency announced that a referendum would be held in this territory on the same dates.
In a message posted on Telegram, Donetsk separatist leader Denis Pushilin urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to annex the region after the referendum.
“In the event of a positive decision (to annexation) in the referendum, which I do not doubt for a moment, I ask you to look into the question of the integration of the Donetsk People’s Republic into the Russian Federation as soon as possible,” writes Mr Pushilin.
“The long-suffering people of Donbass deserve to be part of this great country that they have always considered their homeland,” he added.
In addition to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, pro-Moscow authorities in several areas occupied by the Russians since the launch of the offensive against Ukraine last February have also announced their intention to hold annexation referendums.
SPUTNIK PHOTO, VIA REUTERS
Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin in January 2020.
The former Russian president wants to accelerate the annexation of Ukrainian territories
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that the annexation by referendum of the separatist regions of Donbass, in eastern Ukraine, would allow Moscow to strengthen its military offensive.
The referendums in the Donbass “are of great importance not only for the systemic protection of the inhabitants […] but also for the restoration of historical justice,” Medvedev said on Telegram.
“To encroach on the territory of Russia is a crime and if committed, it allows you to use all forces in self-defense,” he added.
According to Mr. Medvedev, “the geopolitical transformation of the world will become irreversible” after “the integration of new territories” in Russia.
Mr. Medvedev, who was president from 2008 to 2012 and then prime minister from 2012 to 2020, is currently deputy chairman of Russia’s powerful Security Council.
In the process, the president of the Russian Chamber of Deputies, Vyacheslav Volodin, supported the idea.
“If the inhabitants of Donbass express themselves freely to be part of Russia, we will support them,” he told elected officials on Tuesday.
The pro-Russian authorities in Ukraine are increasing calls to organize referendums on annexation to Russia, in the midst of the Kyiv army’s counter-offensive which is causing concern for the occupying forces installed by Moscow.
On Tuesday, one of the main pro-Moscow representatives of Donbass, Denis Pushilin, claimed that the pro-Russian separatist “republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk had been “working actively” since Monday evening to organize a referendum to join Russia.
Mr Pushilin said he had “no doubts” about the outcome of the vote.
The representative in Moscow of the separatist region of Luhansk, Rodion Miroshnik, confirmed that the two separatist territories “coordinated” on the organization of such a vote.
“I think serious consultations between the two (separatist territories) and Russia will now be launched,” he told Russian television.
These referendums, on the model of the one which formalized the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea (south) by Russia in 2014, denounced by the international community, have been the subject of preparations for several months.
President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party has already announced its support for such votes on November 4, Russian National Unity Day, which commemorates a 17th-century popular uprising that expelled Polish occupying forces from Moscow.
Recent counter-offensives by Kyiv forces in northeastern and southern Ukraine had cast doubt on the ability of the occupation and separatist authorities to organize the polls, with the Russian army in trouble .
The head of the administration set up by Russia in the region of Kherson (south), Vladimir Saldo, nevertheless assured Tuesday that the decision was taken, without fixing the date of the vote.
“I am sure that the leadership of Russia will accept the result of the vote and that the Kherson region will be part of Russia,” he wrote on Telegram.
A similar initiative by the occupation authorities is also being launched in the areas under Russian control in the neighboring region of Zaporizhia.