About seven months after the invasion of Ukraine, four regions under the control of the Moscow administration announced that they would hold a referendum to join Russia.
In eastern Donetsk and Luhansk, officials said voting will begin this Friday. It is noted that the referendum will continue until September 27.
A similar referendum process is planned in Kherson and Zaporizhia in the south.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitri Medvedev stated that with the inclusion of such regions in Russia, Moscow can protect them under the doctrine of ‘self-defense’.
Emphasizing that the referendums will provide historical justice for these regions and that they will be “irreversible”, Medvedev said, “It will not be possible for any Russian leader or official to reverse the changes to be made in our constitution.”
Donetsk and Luhansk regions were recognized as ‘independent’ by Russian leader Vladimir Putin 3 days before the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
‘These are hasty fake referendums’
Ukraine, on the other hand, describes such moves as “collusion” designed to legitimize annexation.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba said that the referendums will not change anything and that Ukraine will continue to liberate these regions.
“The only thing they can do is hastily organize fake referendums,” said Serhiy Gayday, Governor of Kiev’s Luhansk Region.
Speaking to Reuters, Gayday interpreted the referendum move as “an attempt to determine the borders of these regions where the front line is located”, and said, “In this way, the areas liberated from the occupation can be declared as a direct attack of Ukraine on Russia.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that since the beginning of the operation, the peoples in the region said that they should determine their own destiny, and said, “The current situation confirms that people want to determine their own destiny.”
The Russian occupation has lost momentum in recent months, and Ukraine has recaptured some large areas in the north-east.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and the vote was largely spoofed.
Erdogan: Putin is willing to end war
The occupation of Ukraine is at the top of the agenda at the 77th UN General Assembly in New York.
Before his speech here, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who gave an interview to the American PBS channel, said that he believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he met in Uzbekistan, wanted to end the war.
Erdogan also noted that an “important step” will be taken in this direction.
Erdogan said what is going on is “quite problematic” for Russia.
When asked to meet with Putin in Uzbekistan, where he went for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Erdogan said that “Ukraine must have the same understanding with Russia” for the war to end:
“At the moment, an agreement has been reached on the exchange of 200 hostages. This is a good development. Currently, friends are managing its technical dimension. But here, Ukraine needs to have the same understanding with Russia, and now we need to be mutually determined to stop these conflicts and this war.”