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US says will not recognize referendum in East Ukraine

Earlier, deputies of the Donetsk regional council proclaimed formation of an independent and sovereign Donetsk People’s Republic

© EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

VIENNA, April 07. /ITAR-TASS/. US will not recognize a referendum in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region if the undertaking does not conform to the provisions of Ukrainian Constitution, the US Permanent Representative at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Daniel B. Baer said Monday answering a question from ITAR-TASS.

Any referendum that will be held in violation of provisions of the Ukrainian Constitution and will contravene law will be regarded as an illegal one as an element of political theater, he said.

Earlier on Monday, deputies of the Donetsk regional council proclaimed formation of an independent and sovereign Donetsk People’s Republic.

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An Act on State Sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic was read out Monday at a session of the regional council, which transformed itself into a Council of the Republic.

The Donetsk republic “will build its relations in line with international law and on the basis of equality and mutual benefits,” the document says.

“The territory of the republic within the recognized borders is indivisible and inviolable,” the council said.

The legislators also passed a decision on holding a referendum on whether or not the region should get incorporated in the Russian Federation. It will be held May 11 at the latest.

On this background, residents of the city of Donetsk, the administrative center of Ukraine’s vital heavily industrialized Donbass Coalfields area, were holding an action of protest in front of the building of the Regional State Administration. The gathering was chanting ‘Russia, Russia!’ and waving the Russian flags.

Sunday, April 6, crowds of protesters seized various official buildings in the cities of Kharkov, Donetsk and Lugansk, the administrative centers of the three crucial heavily industrialized regions of the country.

On Monday, supporters of turning the country into a federation put up barricades in front of the entrance to the Kharkov region administration. They used automobile tires among other ‘construction materials’.

In Lugansk, unknown people who had entrenched themselves in the building of the Security Service’s regional branch seized the room where service guns were kept.

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