SIMFEROPOL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th January, 2021) The self-proclaimed people's republic of Donetsk (DPR) is ready to re-hold a public referendum on granting special status to Ukraine's Donbas region, Denis Pushilin, the leader of the republic, told Sputnik.
In December, Natalia Nikonorova, a DPR foreign minister, invited the UN Security Council members to learn what the people of Donbas want through a referendum, which should be internationally recognized.
"The fact that we are talking about the republic's readiness to re-engage the mechanism of direct democracy was, in fact, our signal to the world community: we have not lost, but only strengthened our faith in freedom, humanism and human rights, we are ready to show our desire for those ideals and the values for the sake of which the people took to the streets in 2014," Pushilin said.
According to the DPR leader, it is also important to draw the international community's attention to the republic's commitment to fully respecting the norms and principles of international law.
"It was for this purpose that readiness was expressed to assist any international observers in the event that a decision is made to hold the [referendum]," Pushilin noted.
The Donbas conflict ignited in 2014 when the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against Donetsk and Luhansk, which refused to recognize the new government in Kiev that came to power after what the breakaway region considered to be a coup.
