A month into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, is now the right time to hold a referendum for the Luhansk and Donetsk separatist regions? Russia doesn't think so.
“I think now is not the right moment," to hold a referendum for the separatist regions — the Luhansk People's Republic and the Donetsk People's Republic — to join the Russian Federation, head of the Duma Committee on Commonwealth of Independent States Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Leonid Kalashnikov said on Sunday, according to Russia state media outlet TASS.
"It is hardly necessary to be puzzled by such questions now, when the fate at the front is being decided," Kalashnikov told TASS.
Donetsk and Luhansk
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to recognize two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine as independent entities in a signing ceremony shown on state television on February 24.
Putin said he was confident that Russia's citizens supported the decision, brushing off Western warnings that such a step would be illegal and would kill off peace negotiations.
"I deem it necessary to make a decision that should have been made a long time ago - to immediately recognize the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic", Putin said.
Recognition for the regions is likely to torpedo the Minsk peace accords, which all sides, including Russia, had previously said were the only possible route out of the crisis in eastern Ukraine.
The step has also paved the way for Moscow to openly send in military forces to the regions, echoing its approach to Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, whose independence it recognized and where it has troops garrisoned.
The Minsk Agreement
Efforts to settle the nationalistic tensions between the separatist regions and Ukraine began already in 2014 with what was known as the Minsk Protocol.
“I don’t think that, in principle, this is expedient, because until recently, the republics were part of Ukraine, even if under the 'Minsk agreement,'" Interfax reported Kalashnikov as saying. He had also said that other breakaway republics such as Georgia's separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia were not inducted into the Russian Federation.
"Now, in the republics, there is no large number of residents since evacuations were carried out," Kalashnikov continued, according to Interfax.
Kalashnikov's comments came after the head of the rebel LPR Leonid Pasechnik said that there would be a referendum to join Russia in the near future.
"I think that in the near future, a referendum will be held on the territory of the republic, at which the people will exercise their absolute constitutional right and express their opinion on joining the Russian Federation. For some reason, I am sure that this will be the case," said Pasechnik, state media outlet RIA reported.
On March 16, 2014, Crimea and Sevastopol both held a referendum for their citizens. This vote gave people two choices: Join Russia or restore the 1992 Crimean constitution which, in turn, would make Crimea a de facto independent part of Ukraine.
According to Russia, there was an 83% voter turnout in Crimea and an 89% turnout in Sevastopol. Russia also claims that an overwhelming majority in both areas (around 95-97%) voted in favor of joining Russia.
This was lauded by Russia, which continues to view Crimea as its own territory, though Ukraine and the international community heavily dispute this, with many saying all of the numbers are suspect.
It should also be noted that despite the high turnout, there were many who boycotted the referendum.
Internationally, the referendum was condemned, despite the fact that Russia on March 17 recognized Crimean independence.
That same day, Crimea's parliament called for Russia to admit it into the Russian Federation.
On March 27 of the same year, the UN General Assembly voted with a large majority in UN Resolution 68/282 that the referendum was entirely invalid.
It was also rejected by the entirety of the European Union, NATO and the G7, among many others.