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A draft document prepared by senior officials of the ruling party in Russia calls for the creation of a new state, called “Southern Russia”.
This state, according to this document, would consist of several regions of Ukraine, which are occupied by Russian forces.
The announcement of this draft document, provided by Schemes, a research project of the Ukrainian Service of Radio Free Europe, comes as fighting continues in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. Russian forces there are conducting offensives from several fronts, against strong Ukrainian resistance.
This proposal also comes at a time when Russian officials have given signals that they want to hold referendums in parts of the Ukrainian regions: Donjeck and Luhansk. Large parts of these two regions have been under the control of pro-Russian separatists for almost eight years. But Russia wants to hold a referendum in the other Ukrainian region, Herson.
Voting in these referendums would aim to unite the occupied territories with Russia, similar to what happened in Crimea in 2014.
Just days before the start of the invasion of Ukraine, on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia was recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent states – a decision that Kiev and most of the world opposed.
The draft document provided by Schemes, entitled “Manifesto of the People’s Council of Southern Russia”, is dated April 16. It does not specify which occupied territories would constitute the new state of “Southern Russia”.
This state, in this draft document is referred to by the word “Russian”. This is the name used to refer to the organized territories from the 8th to the 10th century, which were originally controlled by the kingdom in Kiev, until power was transferred to Moscow. This then led to the creation of Russia.
But the manifesto states that Ukraine has lost its legitimacy after the Maidan revolution in 2013-2014, which culminated in the overthrow of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Russia has long argued that street protests were coups d’etat, and that the Ukrainian government was taken over by “Nazis” and “bandits” – a reference to the 20th-century Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera.
“In response to the terror and totalitarian imposition of the ideology of Nazism and Bandera by the former Ukrainian state, we, in the form of the People’s Council of Southern Russia, take power into our own hands and create a new state, Southern Russia.” stated in the document.
“We know the Russian language, but also the Ukrainian dialect, as a mother tongue and a language of interethnic communication, with the equality of all languages and nationalities,” reads the text of this document.
“We are building our state on the basis of understanding the historical and genetic links and the unity of the tripartite Russian – Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian nationality – brotherly friendship and mutual assistance,” the document said.
‘Herson is awaiting release’
Data from the document show that Roman Romanov, a senior official of the United Russia Party, is either the author of the document or involved in its creation. United Russia is a Kremlin-affiliated party that dominates the Russian Parliament and the country’s political life.
Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity for Scheme said the document was then passed on to advisers to Konstantin Malofeyev, a wealthy and influential Russian businessman who played a key role in funding and supporting separatist efforts in Luhansk and Donetsk. , for years.
Malofeyev was sanctioned by the United States and the European Union in 2014 for its role in the annexation of Crimea. He was indicted in early April for trying to circumvent these sanctions.
Neither Romanov nor the general secretary of the United Russia, Andrei Turchak, were available for comment. Malofeyev declined to comment on the manifesto, saying he did not speak to reporters.
The Medusa portal reported last week that the Kremlin was considering holding two referendums in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions on May 14th and 15th.
Medusa said another referendum could be held in Herson, a region in northern Crimea that is partially occupied by Russian forces.
“Unfortunately, there have been rumors that the invaders are preparing something [në Herson] in the first days of May “, Hennady Lahuta, head of the military administration of this region, told Radio Free Europe. “Either a ‘referendum’ or whatever you want to call it.”
“I can only say this: the whole Hersonzen region is waiting for liberation. It is the Ukrainian region. [Rajoni i Hersonit] “He wants to live in a united, peaceful and glorious Ukraine,” Lahuta said.
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