Ukraine Responds to Luhansk Referendum Proposal to Join Russia All

KYIV, KOMPAS.com – Ukraine condemned the referendum proposal Luhansk be a part of Russia.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Oleg Nikolenko, on Sunday (27/3/2022), described this proposal as part of Russia’s ongoing efforts to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Ukraine said that Russia holding a referendum on occupied Ukrainian territory would have no legal basis and would face a harsh response from the international community.

Also read: Ukraine Update: Proposed Vote in Luhansk to Become Part of Russia

“All false referendums in the temporarily occupied territories are null and void and will have no legal validity,” he said, Sunday (27/3/2022), in written comments, quoted from AFP.

Instead, he said, Russia would face a stronger response from the international community that could deepen its global isolation if it supported the vote in Luhans to be part of them.

Earlier, the head of the Luhansk separatist region in eastern Ukraine, Leonid Pasechnik, on Sunday said he would hold a referendum for Luhansk to become part of Russia,

“I think that in the near future there will be a referendum on the territory of the republic,” the Russian news agency quoted Leonid Pasechnik as saying.

With this, Leonid Pasechnik conveyed that the people of Luhansk will exercise their main constitutional rights and express their opinion about joining the Russian Federation.

Also read: Russia: First Phase of Military Operation in Ukraine Completed, Focus on Freeing Donbas

“For some reason, I believe this will happen,” he said.

The Luhansk referendum plan has also received a response from the Russian side.

Russian lawmakers have mixed views on the proposal.

A lawmaker who heads the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States relations committee in Russia’s lower house of parliament, Leonid Kalashnikov, thinks now is not the right time to hold the referendum.

“It is hardly necessary to concern oneself with such questions when the fate on the front lines is being decided,” he was quoted as saying by Russia’s state news agency. TASS.

Meanwhile, Andrei Klishas, ​​Chair of the Constitutional Legislation Committee in the Upper House of the Russian Parliament, said the breakaway regions had the right to determine their own future.

“Russia has recognized the sovereignty of the Lugansk People’s Republic and Donetsk,” he told the state news agency RIA Novosti.

He stressed the authorities of these republics have the right to make any decisions according to their constitutions.

Also read: Pros and Cons voices from Russia regarding the proposal of Luhansk to join Moscow

According to historical records, Russia itself annexed Crimea from Ukraine after a pro-Moscow leader was ousted in a popular uprising in Kyiv in February 2014 and a referendum was held in the south of the country to become part of Russia.

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