Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz has announced that the country would not recognise the referendums on the Luhansk and Donetsk “people’s republics” (“LDPR”) and the occupied territories of Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions joining the Russian Federation, reports Der Spiegel, citing Scholz’s remarks upon arriving in New York to participate in the United Nations General Assembly.
“These fictitious referendums cannot be accepted, they are not covered by the international law and understanding reached by the world community,” he said (as quoted by Russia’s state news agency TASS).
Scholz added that Russia had to withdraw its troops from Ukraine. “Ukraine has the right to defend its integrity and sovereignty as well as its democracy, we support Ukraine [in these efforts],” he declared.
The “heads” of the self-proclaimed “LPR” and “DPR” as well as the occupation “authorities” of Ukraine’s Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions announced today, 20 September, that they would conduct referendums on joining the Russian Federation. The “referendums” will take place from 23 to 27 September. Russia’s Central Election Commission has already promised to organise polling stations in Russia for voting in the referendums and to send Russian observers to the territories that will conduct the referendums.
