GENEVA, October 3. /TASS/. The Kiev regime put the interests of its Western sponsors above the interest of its own people, pushing away the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, Russian diplomat Kristina Sukacheva said at the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday.
"We are deeply convinced that the choice of millions of residents of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions is an inalienable right, which is enshrined in the first article of the UN Charter on the equal rights and self-determination of peoples," she pointed out. "The Kiev regime, which put the interests of its Western sponsors above the interests of its own people, pushed these regions away from itself," Sukacheva stressed.
According to her, "in 2014, the Nazi-indoctrinated individuals who illegally came to power in Kiev declared exclusivity of all Ukrainian and engaged in the extermination and violent Ukrainization the country's population who spoke Russian and culturally, mentally, historically associated themselves with Russia." "For eight long years, people in Donbass were slaughtered, shelled, and put under a blockade. In Kherson and Zaporozhye, the nationalists tried to cultivate hatred for Russia, for everything Russian. Now, during the referendums, the Kiev regime threatened violence, death to teachers, election commission workers, and intimidated millions of people who came to express their will with repressions," the Russian diplomat emphasized.
She stated that the "referendums were held in conditions of transparency and in compliance with all electoral norms." However, Russia has "no illusions about the reaction of Western countries, which previously also refused, under far-fetched pretexts, to recognize the free expression of the will of the people of Crimea." "The same countries pumped Ukraine with lethal weapons, which were used to kill Donbass civilians, adults and children alike for eight years," Sukacheva noted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, signed treaties on their accession to Russia at a Kremlin ceremony on September 30. The majority of their residents earlier voted to join Russia in referendums. On Sunday, Putin submitted draft federal constitutional laws on accepting new entities into Russia to the State Duma, which were unanimously passed on Monday.