Ukraine rebels appeal to join Russia
By Max Delany and Richard Carter
Rebels in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region are appealing to join Russia after what they claim were resounding victories in independence referendums.
Moscow said on Monday (local time) it “respects” the result of the weekend votes on self-rule, which were denounced by authorities in Kyiv as a “criminal farce” and by the West.
But it has left the door open to a negotiated solution, calling for talks between Kyiv and the rebels in the industrial regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, home to seven million of Ukraine’s 46 million people.
The Kremlin’s move allayed fears Moscow might move to quickly annex the territories, as it did earlier this year after a similar vote in Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.
But tensions remained high in the worst crisis in relations between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War, and Germany announced plans for a diplomatic mission to Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was to travel on Tuesday to Kyiv and eastern Ukraine to support efforts to mediate a “national dialogue” between the interim pro-Western leadership in Kyiv and pro-Moscow groups.
Rebel officials in Donetsk had earlier said 89 per cent of voters backed breaking away from Ukraine in Sunday’s referendum, with a turnout of 75 per cent. Separatists in Lugansk said 94 per cent had backed independence.
Pushilin also said Ukraine’s May 25 presidential election, seen as vital to restoring order, “will not happen” in Donetsk.
Moscow endorsed the separatist votes on Monday, with President Vladimir Putin’s office saying in a statement: “Moscow respects the expression of the people’s will in Donetsk and Lugansk”.
The Kremlin called for “the results to be implemented in a civilised manner, without any repeat of violence, through dialogue between representatives of Kyiv, Donetsk and Lugansk.”
Ukraine’s interim President Oleksandr Turchynov said Kyiv was willing to “continue dialogue with those in the east of Ukraine who have no blood on their hands” but dismissed the votes.
“The farce that terrorist separatists call a referendum is nothing more than propaganda,” he said.
Both European and US officials denounced the referendums, with EU Council president Herman Van Rompuy calling them “illegal, illegitimate and not credible” on a visit to Kyiv.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the voting “was an attempt to create further division and disorder” in Ukraine.
AFP