Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council, has welcomed proposals by Russian proxy states in eastern Ukraine to hold “referendums” that are expected to pave the way for annexation of these territories by Russia, stating that it will give Russia more possibility to “defend” the Ukrainian lands it occupies.
Writing in Telegram, Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 to 2012, said that “after they [sham referendums] are held and new territories are accepted into Russia, the geopolitical transformation in the world will become irreversible. Encroachment on the territory of Russia is a crime, the commission of which allows the use of all forces of self-defense.”
Medvedev added that Russian lawless actions will have to be enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, so that “no official could reverse these decisions.”
On September 19, the so-called “public chambers” of the Russian proxy “Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics,” recognized as terrorist organizations in Ukraine, called for the immediate initiation of illegal “referendums” on their recognition as subjects of the Russian Federation.
This happens amid an unprecedented Ukrainian counteroffensive that has retaken swaths of Kharkiv Oblast and is encroaching upon Russian-occupied lands of Luhansk Oblast.
In 2014, Russia annexed the territory of occupied Crimea through a sham referendum that was overwhelmingly rejected by the world community.
UPDATE. The “LNR People’s Council” is scheduling the Russian annexation referendum for September 23-27, Kremlin-controlled RIA Novosti says.
The question is: “Are you in favor of the LNR becoming part of the Russian Federation as a subject of the Russian Federation?”
The sham plebiscite is slated to take part in the “Donetsk People’s Republic” on the same dates.
