DONETSK, May 14. /ITAR-TASS/. The early presidential elections, scheduled in Ukraine for May 25, will not be held on the territory of Donetsk People’ Republic (DPR). Roman Lyagin, head of the Central Election Committee of the self-proclaimed republic, made this statement on Wednesday.

“Today, the Central Election Committee of the DPR controls all the 22 territorial election committees,” Lyagin noted. “This means the elections of Ukrainian president on DPR’s territory are not possible both technically and for security reasons.”

The head of DPR’s election committee added that the Donetsk region governor Serhiy Taruta “today rules in an imaginary region”. “We had a formal governor Taruta. We do not see him, we don’t even know where he is,” Lyagin noted.

He also left open the possibility that referendums on independence similar to those held in Donetsk and Luhansk regions could be carried out in other parts of Ukraine’s south-east: in Kharkiv, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odessa regions.

Earlier on Wednesday, co-chair of the presidium of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Miroslav Rudenko stated that Serhiy Taruta appointed by the Kiev authorities as the governor of the Donetsk region “does not have real authority”.

“Kiev’s protégé Taruta can call himself governor as much as he likes, but he has already lost real authority,” he said. “The head of state has not been elected in our republic yet, but now we also do not have a head of regional administration,” Rudenko noted.

DPR starts forming its own army

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has started forming its own army, Roman Lyagin said on Wednesday.

“The process of forming the DPR army is going very actively,” he said, adding that weapons were being seized from militia in order to bring them all to one place, take inventory of them and put them under control.

“We must take power in our hands because there is no other power and we must create an interim government and a council as soon as possible. We have the support of deputies in the local self-government bodies. The authorities are on our side completely,” Lyagin said.

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has also formed the Supreme Council, which will perform the functions of the supreme body of legislative power, and the Security Council, the DPR’s press service said Wednesday.

The Supreme Council is expected to comprise 140-150 deputies, the press service said.

A draft constitution of the DPR was discussed at today’s meeting, it said.

Address to Russia

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has made a plea asking to be accepted into the Russian Federation, the republic’s co-leader, Denis Pushilin, told a news conference on Monday, May 12.

“We, the people of the Donetsk People’s Republic, relying on the results of the May 11, 2014 referendum and the declaration of independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic, declare that from now on the Donetsk People’s Republic is a sovereign state,” Pushilin said.

“Proceeding from the will expressed by the DPR people and for the sake of restoring historical justice we are asking Russia to consider the issue of the DPR’s admission to the Russian Federation,” Pushilin said.

May 11, Luhansk and Donetsk regions of Ukraine held referenda on their status. According to data provided by central election committees, amid the punitive operation being carried out by Kiev authorities in Ukraine’s east, about 80% of registered voters in the Donetsk region and almost the same number in the Luhansk region took part in the polls. According to preliminary reports, 89.7% voted for the independence of the Donetsk Republic. In the Luhansk region, 96.2% casted voted for the act on state independence.