Ukraine: Westerners criticize the referendums announced in the Donbass
Residents of Lyssytchansk occupied by the Russians, in July 2022. (illustration image) AFP - OLGA MALTSEVA
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2 mins
The authorities installed by Moscow in four regions of Ukraine announced on Tuesday the urgent holding from September 23 to 27 of “referendums” of annexation by Russia, in the midst of the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
An announcement that caused great concern within the international community.
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A "
new escalation in the war
", "
simulacra of referendums
" or "
fictitious referendums
"... International reactions have multiplied since
the announcement by the separatist powers
of the regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, of organization of annexation "referendums" this week.
French President Emmanuel Macron lambasted before the United Nations General Assembly "
a return to the age of imperialism and colonies
", shortly after calling the announced polls a "
parody
".
It is for him the "
signature of cynicism
" of Vladimir Putin.
This is an additional provocation.
It is a very principle of imitation of democratic forms but it is not because we imitate these forms that in substance we find the sovereignty of the people.
Emmanuel Macron, French President
Valerie Gas
During a press briefing, the White House national security adviser assured that "
the United States will never recognize Russia's claims on allegedly annexed parts of Ukraine
".
These referendums are an affront to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity which underpin the international system and which are at the heart of the United Nations Charter.
We know that these referendums will be manipulated.
Jake Sullivan, White House National Security Advisor
Guillaume Naudin
The Secretary General of NATO, for his part, affirmed that these elections had "
no legitimacy and do not change the nature of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine
".
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz judged that "
these fictitious referendums
" were "
not acceptable
".
Ukraine, the first to react, promised that the Russian threat would be "
liquidated
".
Its head of diplomacy, Dmitro Kouleba, assured that this would not stop the ongoing counter-offensive.
“
The Russians can do whatever they want.
It's not going to change anything
,” he said before an interview with US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
These votes, on the model of the one which formalized the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia in 2014, denounced by kyiv and the West, have been the subject of preparations for several months.
These announcements come after the Russian setbacks in early September.
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To read also: Ukraine: annexation referendums by Russia in the Donbass from September 23 to 27
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