DONETSK, Ukraine -- Leaders of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic on May 12 declared victory in announcing the success of its self-organized, bogus referendum on self-rule on May 11, saying the region was now a sovereign state.
Shortly after the announcement, pro-Russian separatist leader Denis Pushilin said he had asked Russia to bring his new republic into the Kremlin’s fold.
“We’ve asked the Russian Federation to consider accession to Russia as a subject,” he told reporters. “We’re waiting for Russia’s reaction.”
Russia on May 12 said it respects the result of the referendums held in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, home to some 15 percent of Ukraine’s population, on May 11, in which pro-Russian separatists declared a decisive victory. The separatists, who called-for, organized and counted the ballots in the referendums, said that 90 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of sovereignty in Donetsk, while 96 percent of voters in Luhansk supported self-rule.
“In Moscow, we respect the will of the people of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and are counting on practical implementation of the outcome of the referendum in a civilized manner, without any repeat of violence and through dialogue,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the week asked that the separatists to delay their referendums. The group ignored his request and carried on with the vote anyway.
Ukraine’s interim President Oleksandr Turchynov decried the vote, calling it a “farce” and saying it is “nothing more than propaganda to cover up murders, kidnappings, violence and other serious crimes.”
The West also condemned the referendums. U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki called the them “illegal under Ukrainian law” and said they were a deliberate “attempt to create further division and disorder.”
“The United States will not recognize the results of these illegal referenda,” she said.
In her daily press briefing on May 12, Psaki added that the “methodology (of the referendums) was suspect,” with reports of carousel voting, children voting and ballots being cast in Moscow.
On referendum day, Kyiv Post journalists witnessed several violations at polling stations in both Donetsk and Luhansk oblast. Multiple people were seen voting several times over, while many people were allowed to vote despite not having a passport to present to election officials.
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