LUGANSK, March 27. /TASS/. No preparations for a referendum on the accession of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) to Russia are currently underway, LPR’s leader Leonid Pasechnik said on Sunday, adding that it is only his personal opinion that such a referendum is possible.

"I made such a statement. <…> I would like to make it clear: it is my personal opinion. Nothing is currently being done to organize such a referendum," he told journalists.

He stressed that the republic’s key goal now is to complete combat operations.

Pasechnik said earlier on Sunday that a referendum could be organized in the Lugansk People’s Republic soon to decide about possible accession to Russia.

Following a dramatic deterioration of the situation in Donbass on February 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 announced a decision to recognize the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics within the boundaries of the administrative borders of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as is committed to paper in their constitutions. The treaties of friendship, cooperation and mutual aid were signed with their leaders. On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aimed to demilitarize and denazify the country. The republics began an operation to liberate their territories controlled by Kiev.