MOSCOW, December 15. / TASS /. Kiev’s attempts to seal the fate of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics without engaging their residents and by violating people’s rights look more like a mockery than a solution to the conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday.
The diplomat commented on the statement made by Chairman of the Verkhovnaya Rada (Ukrainian parliament) Ruslan Stefanchuk, who said that if a referendum on Donbass was arranged, the republics’ residents would be able to partake in it only after arriving in the territory controlled by Kiev.
"There has appeared a certain concept of a referendum on Donbass. It has a very interesting structure, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, as well as the representatives of the [Verkhovnaya] Rada, mentioned it. It seems that it should somehow help to break the deadlock. It is proposed to decide the fate of Donbass at the all-Ukrainian level but without the participation of the region’s citizens. What can I say? The double standards of the Kiev governance? I’m not sure. Hypocrisy is also, I think, a wrong word. Mockery is closer to the point," the diplomat stated.
Zakharova pointed out that, according to one of the concepts, the residents of Donbass would have to come to other Ukraine’s regions for voting. Votes will only be counted under these conditions, while the referendum will not be held in the LPR and the DPR. "And this was offered by the same people who believe that the referendum in Crimea was illegitimate and held at gunpoint," the diplomat said.
As the Russian diplomat recalled, during discussions on the global stage, Kiev insisted that the fate of Ukraine could not be decided without the country’s people. "Could you then answer the question, if the fate of Donbass can be discussed without Donbass? The Kiev leadership forgets that, according to the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements, the coordination of all aspects should be carried out in a direct dialogue between Kiev, the DPR, and the LPR as parties to the conflict. Apart from the desires of politicians, there is the Package of Measures approved by the UN, which points at [the need for] the dialogue between the sides <…>," Zakharova insisted.
Earlier, the Ukrainian leader stated that he did not rule out the possibility of holding a referendum on Donbass, in particular, aiming to end the hostilities in the region.