Putin Calls for Delay on Ukraine Referendum
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Jumat, 19 Oktober 2018 20:21 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Moscow - Russian President Vladimir Putin urged pro-Kremlin separatist groups in eastern Ukraine to delay the referendum scheduled to take place this weekend on demanding greater autonomy or independence from Ukraine.
Putin previously backed the referendum and decided to change its stance after a meeting with Didier Burkhalter, Chief of Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Wednesday, May 7, 2014. "We ask the representatives of the southeast to postpone the referendums planned for May 11 in order to create the conditions necessary for dialogue," Putin said.
Pro-Russia activists said that they would discuss Putin's call in a meeting on Thursday. "Tomorrow we will discuss that at the people's assembly," Denis Pushilin, a leader of the Donestk People's Republic, told Reuters. "We have the utmost respect for President Putin. If he considers that necessary, we will of course discuss it."
Pro-Russia activists, who have seized a number of government buildings in eastern Ukrainian regions such as Donetsk and Luhansk, have announced a planned referendum to declare independence from Kiev following the Kremlin-backed protest in February 2014.
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