The leader of the self-proclaimed republic of Lugansk, Leonid Pasechnik, said this Sunday that he could organize a referendum to decide whether the territory becomes part of Russia, after Moscow recognized the aforementioned entity, located in the Donbas region, in the eastern Ukraine.
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“I believe that in the near future a referendum will be held on the territory of the republic, in which the people will exercise their absolute constitutional right and express their opinion on joining the Russian Federation,” said the president of the self-proclaimed republic. .
“For some reason, I’m sure this will be the case,” he said.
Lugansk, which together with Donetsk are located in the Donbas region, which declared themselves independent in a referendum in 2014 that was not recognized by the Ukrainian state or by the international community.
The referendum could mark a precursor to the formal annexation of more Ukrainian territory by Russia, as happened in Crimea after Russia seized the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014.
On the issue of the referendum, Ukraine warned that “no country in the world” will recognize the result of said consultation as the one they intend to carry out in the self-proclaimed separatist republic of Lugansk since, according to kyiv, it would be “illegal”.
“No country in the world will recognize the forcible change of Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders,” a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on his Facebook account.
kyiv maintains that a consultation of these characteristics would be “illegal” and that, if carried out, Russia would face an “international response” more forceful than sanctions and that it would “deepen” its isolation.
Three days before starting the special military operation in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized on February 21 the independence of the self-proclaimed republics of Lugansk and Donetsk.