Russia plans to hold «referendums» in the parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in Ukraine occupied by the Kremlin. The two self-proclaimed, separatist «republics» could see two such votes happening in mid-May, according to Riga-based Russian news portal Meduza.
The news portal wrote, quoting three unnamed sources close to Putin’s administration in Moscow, that the weekend of May 14 and 15, 2022 has been chosen to for orchestrating the votes.
Russia recognized the «Donetsk People’s Republic» and the «Luhansk People’s Republic» just days before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In doing so, Moscow acknowledged their territorial claims to the entirety of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukraine still controls large parts of the two regions, which are currently the theatre of the key battle for Donbas.
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Meduza also quoted the sources as saying that another pseudo-referendum may also be held on these same dates in Ukraine’s Kherson region, which Russian forces have partially occupied. The aim of the vote would be to falsify the will of the local population in the occupied region to declare independence from Ukraine and establish Kherson People’s Republic».
Russia preparing «referendums» to annex Ukraine’s Donbas
