The head of the Lugansk People's Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, stated on Sunday that a referendum on joining Russia may be held in the republic.
"I think 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", Pasechnik said at a meeting with the press.
Lugansk, as well as Donetsk, proclaimed its independence in 2014, after a violent coup d'etat in Kiev. Both republics held referendums on independence and expressed plans to join Russia, to which the new government in Kiev responded with a military campaign.
Servicemen from the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) militia sit on armoured vehicles on a road outside Mariupol. On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine following the recognition of independence of the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk republics.
© Sputnik / Ivan Rodionov
/ As a result of the eight-year-long war in Donbass, over 13,000 people were killed. In February 2022, intensifying shelling by Kiev's troops resulted in mass evacuations from the DPR and LPR. Both republics appealed to Russia, asking for help, and Moscow launched a special operation in Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin stressed it was started to stop the genocide perpetrated by Kiev's troops, and noted that the goal of the op is the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine.
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