DONETSK, September 28. /TASS/. The head of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushililn, said his next step after the referendum would be to sign an accession agreement with Russia.

"I will start to prepare for my next moves soon, for the visit. As we have already said, we are to sign an [accession] agreement with Russia very soon. So I’m about to depart," he told reporters at the DPR Central Election Commission’s headquarters on Tuesday night.

In his words, he requested Russian President Vladimir Putin to support the results of the referendum before the vote, and the situation is unfolding as planned.

"Together with my [LPR] counterpart Leonid Pasechnik, we have already addressed the [Russian] president, and he had expressed his support, saying that he will support the decision if Donbass residents vote in favor of it. Of course, we are to proceed to the next stage, the legal one. Everything goes according to the plan," he said after final results of the referendum were announced.

On September 21, 2022, in a televised address to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would support the decisions made at the referendums by the residents of Donbass and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Newsweek that the four regions were entitled to exercise their right to self-determination in accordance with the UN Charter and Moscow would respect their choice.