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Referendums on liberated territories depend on people’s choice — Kremlin spokesman

"We keep saying that this is mainly a question that is connected with the will of those people who live in these territories," Dmitry Peskov said

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/. The question of holding possible referendums in the liberated territories of Ukraine on the issue of accession to Russia depends on the will of the people living there, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Friday.

"We keep saying that this is mainly a question that is connected with the will of those people who live in these territories," he said, when asked what scenarios the Kremlin was considering in connection with the latest statements by the head of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, who speculated that in the current situation this accession could be "quite logical and justified" even without referendums. Aksyonov argued although the referendum in Crimea was absolutely legal and held in accordance with the universally established norms, this in no way helped achieve recognition by most countries of the world.

On Wednesday, the secretary of the United Russia party’s General Council, Andrey Turchak, said that it would be appropriate to hold a vote in Donbass and the liberated territories on National Unity Day. LPR People’s Council Speaker Denis Miroshnichenko, while commenting on Turchak's proposal, told TASS that holding a referendum in the LPR republic on November 4 would certainly be symbolic, but it was far more important to ensure safety.