The head of the Lugansk People’s Republic has told journalists about plans to hold a referendum.

The Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), one of the two breakaway Donbass territories recognized by Moscow as independent states in late February, is planning to hold a plebiscite on joining Russia “in the near future,” its leader has revealed.

There has been no indication that the Kremlin would accept such a demand. Last month, President Valdimir Putin recognised the independence of the LPR, but almost all of the word considers it to still be part of Ukraine.

Speaking to journalists on Sunday, Leonid Pasechnik said that he thought “in the near future a referendum will be held in the republic, where people will exercise their absolutely constitutional right, and give their opinion with respect to joining Russia.” The official added that he was “somehow sure that’s precisely the way it will be.”

Commenting on the possibility of such a vote in the LPR, Russian Senator Andrey Klishas said on Sunday that both Lugansk and Donetsk had the right to seek to join Russia unless such a move ran counter to their constitutions.

However, Leonid Kalashnikov, who chairs the Russian Duma’s committee on the Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots, has warned that “now is not the right moment” for holding a referendum in the republic. Kalashnikov argued that “you hardly need to bother with such questions when destiny is being determined on the frontline.”

Both the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the LPR declared independence in 2014 following a violent coup in Kiev. Both territories are predominantly Russian-speaking, and fears were growing at the time that nationalist elements in the new Ukrainian government would persecute ethnic minorities. Ukraine branded the two breakaway republics separatists and launched an ‘anti-terrorist operation,’ deploying its military to regain control, which resulted in a bloody war. The armed hostilities ended in February 2015 with the signing in the Belarusian capital of the so-called Minsk II peace agreement, brokered by Germany and France.

The accord demanded that both the Ukrainian military and separatists cease fire and put an end to clashes, which had turned the region into a conflict zone. The document also called for major administrative and political reform in Ukraine as well as autonomy and local elections for the Donbass republics. However, the implementation of the agreement was stalled, with the two sides blaming each other for the lack of progress.

In mid-February 2022, the DPR and LPR began reporting an uptick in Ukrainian artillery shelling – something which forced the Donbass republics to ask Russia for official recognition, as their respective leaderships claim. On February 21, Moscow recognized both republics as independent states, signing friendship treaties with Donetsk and Lugansk. However, parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions declared by the two republics as their own in their respective constitutions were still under Ukraine’s control.

On February 24, Putin launched a military offensive in Ukraine. The Russian head of state insisted that the neighboring state had to be “demilitarized and denazified,” claiming that far-right militias, which had permeated the Ukrainian government, were supposedly aiming to carry out a genocide of the Russian-speaking population of the Donbass. Ukraine and its allies dismissed Putin’s allegations as a mere pretext, accusing Moscow of waging “unprovoked” aggression against a sovereign state.

https://www rt com/russia/552790-donbass-republic-referendum-join-russia/

This is what Russia should have done and stopped their. They shouldn't have proceeded into Kiev.

As a Biafran, I believe in the peaceful use of referendum to become Independent.

Although this news maybe one sided.

Putin made massive mistake by not taking those regions in 2014.
Him delaying the operation caused all this things.
Poland is looking at taking back Lviv from Ukraine as it was a gift from USSR to Ukraine after WW2.

Hungary foreign minister already said to UK PM, that Hungary will take back her own land that was given to Ukraine by USSR after the defeat Nazi.

Russia want to control all the ports from Russia to Moldova.
It’s has always be Russia dream and Ukraine president gave the the good reason now.
No more sea for Ukraine
By the time Russia is done, there will be no more Ukraine

They will join the coward putin to be finally destroyed by the west.

I hope Russia will allow Chechnya and Siberia to conduct their own referendum.

Northernblood5:
This is what Russia should have done and stopped their. They shouldn't have proceeded into Kiev.

As a Biafran, I believe in the peaceful use of referendum to become Independent.

Although this news maybe one sided.

they proceeded into Kiev to stop Ukrainian soldiers from coming south