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September 20 2022 16:20
An ally of President Vladimir Putin, a top Russian security official, said Tuesday he favors holding referendums in two regions of eastern Ukraine to formally make them part of Russia, a move that would dangerously escalate the confrontation between Moscow and the West.
The statement by Dmitry Medvedev, who previously served as Russia’s president and is now deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, hardens Russia’s rhetoric on Ukraine and represents the strongest indication yet that the Kremlin is considering moving forward with a plan that Ukraine and the West say would be illegal. .
Medvedev made his comments as Putin contemplated his next steps in the nearly seven-month conflict that has sparked the biggest confrontation with the West since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
It comes a day following the presidents of the unilaterally declared and Russia-backed Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic discussed joining forces for referendums on joining Russia.
Also on Tuesday, officials in Ukraine’s Russian-controlled Kherson region requested a referendum on joining Russia.
Medvedev indicated that the merger of the two republics – known together as Donbass – with Russia would be an irreversible step once completed. Therefore, any attack on the two regions following that will be considered an attack on Russia itself and it is entitled, under its law, to respond in self-defense.
“The encroachment on Russian territory is a crime that allows the use of all self-defense forces,” Medvedev said in a post on Telegram. “This is the reason for the fear of these referendums in Kyiv and the West,” he added.
Source: agencies
