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Civic Chamber says referendums ready to be held in Donbass

"The entire Donbass is looking forward to the referendum, and to joining the Russian Federation. It will make a big difference, which is long overdue for a change," Alexander Kofman insisted

MOSCOW, September 20. /TASS/. The Donbass republics are ready to hold referendums on their territories, and everything is set to get rolling, including the Central Election Commission (CEC), Chairman of the Donetsk People's Republic’s (DPR) Civic Chamber, Alexander Kofman, said during a Rossiya-24 TV broadcast on Tuesday.

"In the Lugansk People's Republic, where the entire territory has been liberated, everything is fully prepared, in our liberated territories everything is also ready. Both territorial election commissions and observers have already been formed. Polling stations have already been set up. So now, technically, all that is left is to finalize all these processes that we have been conducting for the last two months and decide on the date," he revealed.

According to Kofman, the DPR Civic Chamber will initiate the electronic voting in the plebiscite for a number of territories, including those that haven’t yet been liberated. "Most likely, we will also come up with such an initiative that for DPR citizens who are now living in Russia, for example, there would be two possibilities: to come to the embassy in Moscow or we need to provide an opportunity to vote remotely. We are also talking about the currently occupied territories of the republic. There is no way they can get into our territory or into Russia. In fact, they are hostages of the Ukrainian authorities," the chairman added.

"The entire Donbass is looking forward to the referendum, and to joining the Russian Federation. It will make a big difference, which is long overdue for a change," Kofman insisted.

On Monday, the LPR Civic Chamber called on the republic’s head, Leonid Pasechnik, to immediately hold a referendum on joining Russia. The Chamber stressed that this step will ensure the republic’s security and open new opportunities for its reconstruction. Later, the Civic Chamber of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) issued a similar appeal to its leader, Denis Pushilin, and the parliament. After that, the DPR head had a telephone conversation with his LPR counterpart and suggested synchronizing efforts to prepare for the referendums.

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