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Donbass republics to make decision on martial law jointly with Russia, says LPR leader

We will be making decisions jointly, Pasechnik said

KRASNODON, September 27. /TASS/. Heads of the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) will make a decision on the introduction of the martial law together with the Russian authorities in case the republics join the Russian Federation, LPR leader Leonid Pasechnik told TASS on Tuesday.

"In case of our unification we will become a subject of the Russian Federation and I believe that they have people to make this decision… We will be making decisions jointly," Pasechnik said.

Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Security Anatoly Vyborny said on Monday that a counter-terrorism operation (CTO) regime might be required in the possibly new regions of Russia in order to fend off Kiev’s terrorist attacks. Vyborny noted that a decision to initiate a CTO is made by the chief federal security executive, while a decree to initiate a special military operation is delivered by the Russian president.

The referendums on joining Russia kicked off in the Donetsk and the Lugansk People’s Republics and in the liberated areas of the Kherson and the Zaporozhye Regions at 08:00 a.m. Moscow Time on September 23. Voting will continue until September 27.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, noting that the operation was aimed at the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.