People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk announce decision to join Russia

Plenipotentiaries of the People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk made a joint statement about the wish of the two breakaway republics to join Russia.

Photo: Source: Pravda.Ru archive

"The People's Republic of Donetsk and the People's Republic of Luhansk undoubtedly consider the Crimea as a part of Russia. Moreover, our republics would ideally like to join the Russian Federation," Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego said, the Donetsk News Agency said.

On June 9 it was reported that the authorities of the breakaway republics published a new version of amendments to the Constitution. The document raised many eyebrows as it stated that the city of Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea were regarded as a territory of Ukraine, Pravda.Ru reports.

Also read: Donetsk and Luhansk to obtain special status they fight for

Permanent representative of the Republic of Luhansk at the Minsk talks, Vladislav Deinego, stated that in accordance with the Minsk agreements, the Ukrainian authorities must introduce changes to the constitution, "taking into account peculiarities of individual districts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, coordinated with representatives of these regions."

"Introducing changes to the Constitution of Ukraine regarding the Crimea is beyond our competence. We proceed from the Minsk Accords that do not say a word about the Crimea. We have no powers to introduce any amendments about the Crimea to the Constitution of Ukraine," he said.

Pravda.Ru

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