DONETSK, May 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Alexander Borodai has been elected Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, the republic’s press service told ITAR-TASS on Friday.

Borodai was elected at the third session of the republic’s Supreme Council (legislature).

The eastern Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions held referendums on May 11, in which most voters supported independence from Ukraine. After the plebiscite, co-chairman of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin said the DPR asked Russia to adopt it as a constituent member.

Massive protests against the new Ukrainian authorities, who were propelled to power in Kiev amid riots during a coup in the country in February, erupted in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking southeastern territories after the secession of the Crimean Peninsula, which declared independence on March 11 and joined Russia on March 18 following a referendum.