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Regional politician urges federalisation referendum in Ukraine

"All illegal paramilitary formations should be immediately disarmed," Chairman of the Luhansk Region Council Valery Golenko says

© EPA/SERGEY KOZLOV

KIEV, April 08. /ITAR-TASS/. Chairman of the Luhansk Region Council Valery Golenko has called for disarming all illegal paramilitary formations, amnesty for participants in protests in eastern regions, and holding a referendum on the status of the Russian language and federalisation.

These are crucial conditions for breaking political deadlock in Ukraine, Golenko said in a statement received by ITAR-TASS on Tuesday.

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Federalization crucial for Ukraine — Russian lawmaker

"In the first place, all illegal paramilitary formations should be immediately disarmed," he noted. "We should begin with Right Sector and other radical groups that formed on "Maidan."

The Luhansk Region Council has repeatedly voiced this demand in the recent months, but Kiev did not heed the calls to protect residents of Ukraine's southeast and the whole country. "Our people decided that they should protect themselves on their own," Golenko said.

The second condition is dropping persecution of activists and participants in protests in the east of the country. "If the participants in the confrontation in Kiev and western Ukraine have been amnestied and nearly made heroes, eastern Ukraine's residents should not be punished either, and whose who have been detained for political motives or charged must be amnestied," he went on.

The third crucial condition is the announcement of national plebiscite on two issues: giving official status to the Russian language and transfer to federalism with the guarantees of Ukraine's territorial integrity. "Our people should have an unequivocal signal from Kiev that nobody will ever ignore their opinion in their homeland," the Luhansk official underlined.

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