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Ukraine’s SBU charges three female LPR politicians with organizing Sept 2022 referendum

According to the SBU, two of the accused are members of the LPR’s legislature (People's Council) and the third is a representative of the territorial election commission of Lugansk

KIEV, December 13. /TASS/. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has brought "collaborationism" and "encroachment on territorial integrity" charges in absentia against three female politicians of the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR), including Olga Kobtseva, a participant in the Minsk talks. The SBU says the accused took part in organizing the referendum on the LPR’s accession to Russia.

According to the SBU, two of the accused are members of the LPR’s legislature (People's Council) and the third is a representative of the territorial election commission of Lugansk.

The SBU’s statement on Facebook (outlawed in Russia for it belongs to Meta corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia) is accompanied by photographs of Svetlana Alyoshina, Larisa Onishchenko and member of the LPR People's Council Olga Kobtseva, who represented the republic in the subgroup on humanitarian issues at the Minsk talks and headed the working group on the exchange of prisoners.

From September 23 to September 27, referendums were held in the DPR and LPR, as well as in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions on the issue of joining Russia. The vast majority of their residents were in favor of such a move. On September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the regions in question signed agreements on their accession to Russia. On October 4, Putin signed laws on the ratification of treaties on the admission of the DPR and LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions into Russia.

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