Pro-Russia rebels to press ahead with Sunday鈥檚 vote on autonomy
Print Edition
THE pro-Russia insurgency in eastern Ukraine decided yesterday to go ahead with Sunday’s referendum on autonomy, despite a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin to delay it.
While Putin’s call on Wednesday to postpone the vote was seen as part of an effort to step back from confrontation and negotiate a deal with the West, he fueled tensions again yesterday by overseeing military exercises that Russian news agencies said simulated a massive retaliatory nuclear strike in response to an enemy attack.
Putin said the exercise involving Russia’s nuclear forces had been planned back in November, but it came as relations between Russia and the West have reached their lowest point since the Cold War.
On the ground in Ukraine, many have feared that the referendum could be a flashpoint for further violence between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russia militants who have seized government buildings in about a dozen cities in the east.
The decision to hold the vote as planned was unanimous, said Denis Pushilin, co-chairman of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic.
He said the suggestion to postpone the referendum “came from a person who indubitably cares for the population of the southeast” of Ukraine and thanked Putin for his efforts to find a way out of the situation. “But we are just a bullhorn for the people,” Pushilin said. “We just voice what the people want and demonstrate through their actions.”
The question on the ballot is: “Do you support the act of proclamation of independent sovereignty for the Donetsk People’s Republic?”
Despite the phrasing, the organizers have said that only after the vote will they decide whether they want actual independence, greater autonomy within Ukraine or annexation by Russia.
Putin on Wednesday also declared that Russia has pulled its troops away from the Ukrainian border, although NATO said they have seen no signs of this.
“I have very good vision but while we’ve noted Russia’s statement so far we haven’t seen any — any — indication of troops pulling back,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a post on Twitter.
Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov accused NATO and the Pentagon of deliberately misrepresenting the situation on the border and urged them “to stop cynically misleading the international community,” the Interfax news agency reported.
Putin also spoke more positively about the Ukrainian interim government’s plan to hold a presidential election on May 25, calling it a “step in the right direction.”
But he said the vote’s legitimacy depended on Ukraine ending “punitive operations” in the east and starting a dialogue to assure the Russian-speaking population that their rights would be guaranteed.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
