US State Department affirms the referendum in Donbas ‘would have no legitimacy’
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert stated on Twitter that the results of a referendum offered by Putin in the Donbas would have no legitimacy.
“A ‘referendum’ would have no legitimacy,” she wrote. “We continue to support Minsk agreements for solving the conflict in Donbas.”
The Bloomberg Agency reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to hold a referendum in the territory of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk regions. According to the agency, this idea was discussed at the president’s meeting with the U.S. President Donald Trump.
A participant of Putin’s meeting with Foreign Ambassadors confirmed that Putin raised this issue during the meeting, RBC news agency reported.
According to a source cited by Interfax, at the meeting of Putin and Trump, it was proposed to make the so-called DPR and LPR autonomous Republics within Ukraine. At the same time, RBC news agency reported, citing its sources that are close to the Kremlin, that any scenario with a referendum is unlikely.
The US National Security Council Spokesman Garrett Marquis spoke against such a referendum. According to him, “to organize a so-called referendum in a part of Ukraine which is not under government control would have no legitimacy.”
The political director of the Ukrainian Foreign Office, Oleksii Makeiev, tweeted: “Kremlin is desperately trying to legitimize its crime of aggression occupation of Crimea and Donbas. We strongly reject this weird idea of holding referenda in the occupied territories on the Russian gunpoint! Absolutely unacceptable 4 Ukraine & our partners!”
The Advisor to the Head of the DPR, Alexander Kazakov, stated that such an idea raises many questions. “Who would vote: residents of the whole region or DPR only? Because a part of the region is now under Ukraine’s control. How many questions will be put to a referendum? If there is a question: “independence or broad autonomy within Ukraine,” how would define how broad the autonomy is?” Kazakov added.