"The Donetsk and Lugansk referendums were a response to the armed coup, to the rise of neo-Nazism, to the beatings and murders of those who disagree with the new Kiev authorities, to the announcement and the beginning of the punitive operation," RIA Novosti quotes him.
Gryzlov noted that these events were a reaction to a gross violation of citizens' rights and aggression from the west.
“All that Donbass heard from official Kiev is threats and demands to surrender. Naturally, there will be no capitulation of Donetsk and Luhansk, and it cannot be, ”he stressed.
Earlier, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko spoke in favor of holding local elections in the Donbass until March 2020.
May 11, 2014 in the DPR and the LPR held a referendum on self-determination.