Eastern Ukraine rebel leaders call for region to become part of Russia

DONETSK/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine – Pro-Moscow rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine called on Monday for their region to become part of Russia, the day after staging a referendum on self-rule, although Moscow stopped short of endorsing their bid for annexation. Announcing the result of the vote in one of the two provinces where it was held, a leader of the “People’s Republic of Donetsk,” Denis Pushilin, said it was now an independent state and would appeal to join the Russian Federation. “The people of Donetsk have always been part of the Russian world. For us, the history of Russia is our history,” he said. “Based on the will of the people and on the restoration of historic justice, we ask the Russian Federation to consider the absorption of the Donetsk People’s Republic into the Russian Federation,” he told a news conference. There and in neighbouring Luhansk, some officials said they might now hold a second referendum on joining Russia, like one held in Crimea, a Ukrainian region Moscow seized and annexed in March after protesters ousted Ukraine’s pro-Russian president. Donetsk and Luhansk together are home to 6.5 million people and represent around a third of Ukraine’s industrial output. Their declarations create the… Read full this story

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