MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. The Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) will keep their status of republics in the Russian Federation. Respective items have been provided in treaties on their accession to Russia, with references to them included in decrees published on the website of the Russian Constitutional Court on Sunday.
"According to Article 2 of the Treaty in question a new entity is formed in the Russian Federation, the Donetsk People’s Republic, from the day of accession of the Donetsk People’s Republic to the Russian Federation," according to a decree by the Russian Constitutional Court on recognition of the agreement on the DPR’s accession to Russia constitutional. A similar item is provided in Russia’s agreement with the LPR: "<…> a new entity, the Lugansk People’s Republic, has been formed in the Russian Federation."
Both treaties stipulate that the state language of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic "is the Russian language, whereas the Russian Federation guarantees that all peoples living on the territory" of the DPR and the LPR "have the right to maintain their mother tongue, and the conditions for learning and developing it."
Meanwhile, the Kherson Region and the Zaporozhye Region will become Russian regions not changing their names.
From September 23 to September 27, the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) as well as the Kherson Region and the Zaporozhye Region held a referendum where the majority of voters opted to join Russia. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the DPR and the LPR, the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions signed treaties on their accession to Russia.