President’s Office warns Donbas terrorists: Referendum is a fiction that changes nothing
OLENA ROSHCHINA — MONDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2022, 22:17
The Office of the President of Ukraine assured Russia and its allies in the occupied territories of Ukraine that sham referendums would not provide an opportunity to legalise the occupation of Ukrainian land.
Source: Mykhailo Podoliak, Adviser to the Head of the President’s Office, on Twitter
Quote: "Russian propagandists are in love with ‘referendums’ and believe they are a panacea. I have bad news for them.
There is global consensus and international law. It is unambiguous: Donetsk, Luhansk, Crimea - are [part of] Ukraine. Any attempts to repaint the flags are a fiction that will not change anything either for us or for our partners."
Ru-пропагандисти закохані в «референдуми» як панацею. Маю для них погані новини. Є глобальний консенсус та міжнародне право. Воно однозначне: Донецьк, Луганськ, Крим – це 🇺🇦. Будь-які спроби перефарбувати прапори – фікція, що нічого не змінить ні для нас, ні для партнерів.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) September 19, 2022
Background: On 19 September, the Public Chambers of terrorist "LPR" and "DPR" (self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic accordingly) demanded the immediate launch of illegal referendums on their recognition as federal entities (subjects) of the Russian Federation. This is happening due to the Ukrainian defenders’ counteroffensive, which is advancing from Kharkiv Oblast to Luhansk Oblast.
The occupiers have postponed the sham referendums on the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts more than once.
In 2014, an illegal "referendum" in the presence of the Armed Forces of Russia became grounds for the annexation of Crimea. It was not recognised either by Ukraine or by the democratic world. Nevertheless, Ukraine, the USA, and the European Union limited themselves to sanctions in response to the seizure of the peninsula.
Sham referendums in Luhansk and Donetsk two months after the annexation of Crimea did not lead to a so-called "accession" of the two oblasts to the Russian Federation.
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