DPR head Pushilin announces integration with LPR and accession to Russia
Newly-elected leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin claimed that borders and customs between territories controlled by the DPR and LPR would be removed, and that in the future, the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions which are controlled by pro-Russian militants will become a part of Russia, the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reports.
“We can speak about a single Donbas, but it happened so in 2014 l, that it was split into two Republics. We didn’t get Novorossiya then, we should say it directly. Now, there cannot be a merger due to an important reason: the Minsk Agreements,” Pushilin stated. “However, now we can synchronize the legislation.”
“We will fully remove the borders and customs between us. Industry will cooperate. I do not see any problem with it. We should take into consideration another fact; our ambitions both in Donetsk and Luhansk are clear. Move towards Russia. Tomorrow will come and we will be in one country and this issue will be solved by itself,” Pushilin concluded.
The acting head of the self-declared DPR, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, the acting leader of the Luhansk People’s Republic won the elections that took place on the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions which are not controlled by Ukraine. Later, the First Deputy Chair of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs demanded that Ukraine recognize the elections as legitimate.
“Elections" in the so-called DPR and LPR were held on November 11, despite the protests of Ukraine and the warnings of the international community.
Volodymyr Yelchenko, the Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, said that elections could become the starting point for new Russian armed aggression. Western countries have condemned the election in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko expressed hope that new sanctions would be imposed against Russia because of these elections.