This week, two Russian-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine declared that they would hold referendums on joining Russia. A Putin loyalist predicted that the results would permanently change the geopolitical landscape in Moscow’s favour.
The move, which drastically deepens Moscow’s confrontation with the West, comes as Putin considers his next move in a war that has strained ties between the East and the West more than any other event since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis but after Russia suffered a military defeat in northeast Ukraine.
The self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), supported by Russia, and the neighbouring Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), announced that the scheduled referendums would take place from September 23 to September 27.
Denis Pushilin, the leader of the DPR, asked Putin in a social media post: “I ask you, as quickly as possible, to consider the DPR becoming a member of Russia in the case of a favourable outcome in the referendum — which we have no doubt about.”
Russian-installed officials in the southern Kherson area, where Moscow’s forces occupy over 95% of the territory, announced earlier on Tuesday that they had also chosen to hold a vote. Authorities in a region of Ukraine called Zaporizhia that are pro-Russian were anticipated to do the same.
Such referendums, according to Ukraine and the US, would be illegal shams, and they made it clear that they and many other nations would not recognise the results.
The move, which drastically deepens Moscow’s confrontation with the West, comes as Putin considers his next move in a war that has strained ties between the East and the West more than any other event since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis but after Russia suffered a military defeat in northeast Ukraine.
