Today, July 20, Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov said that during the talks in Helsinki, Donald trump , and Vladimir Putin discussed the possibility of holding a referendum in the Donbass. The American leader on Twitter also mentioned, though briefly and without specifics, that they with Russian President discussed the Ukrainian situation.
The White house quickly reacted to the statement of the Russian diplomat.
«The administration [of the President] does not consider the possibility of holding a referendum in the East of Ukraine», — said the representative of the national security Council at the White house Garrett Marquis.
According to 2 sources who attended the closed-door meeting, Putin argued his proposal that a referendum will supposedly help to resolve the conflict in the East of Ukraine.
«Minsk agreement is an operation to resolve the conflict in the Donbass, and in these agreements there is no option of a referendum — said the Marquis. — In addition, the process of organizing so-called referendum in part of Ukraine that is not under the control of the government, would not be legitimate».
It is safe to say that neither the Ukraine nor the EU would not support a referendum in the region where the power is in the hands of Pro-Russian separatists. A similar situation has already occurred in 2014 with the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed after an illegal referendum.
The Ukrainian side also responded to the statement of Moscow. Director of the political Department of the foreign Ministry of Ukraine Alexei Makeyev was indignant with that «the Kremlin is desperately trying to legitimize crime — the occupation of the Crimea and Donbass».
Kremlin is desperately trying 2 legitimize its crime of aggression occupation of Crimea & Donbas. We strongly reject this weird idea of holding referenda in the occupied territories on the Russian gunpoint! Absolutely ending 4 Ukraine & our partners! Russia #GetOutOfUkraine
— Oleksii Makeiev 🇺🇦 (@Makeiev) July 20, 2018
«We strongly reject this strange idea of holding a referendum in the occupied territories under the eye of Russia! [She] is absolutely unacceptable for Ukraine and for our partners», — said Makeev on Twitter.
