Residents of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) have been waiting for a referendum on the republic’s entry into Russia for many years, they told an Izvestia correspondent on September 22.
“We have been waiting for this for eight years. After all, Russia is Russia. We always aspired and wanted to go there,” said local resident Andrei.
Other interviewed local residents agreed with his opinion. They hope that this event will lead to an end to the shelling of the Donbass republics. And one of the residents, Irina Tyulchenko, noted that back in 2014, in the DPR, “a point was organized where one could speak out about joining Russia.”
“We tried very hard, we have been waiting for this moment for a very long time. They wanted him with all their heart. And we simply mobilized as much as possible with our entire electoral system. We worked tirelessly, literally day and night, to hold this event, this event. It was hard enough, but we are strong, we did everything, we prepared everything,” said Vladimir Vysotsky, chairman of the DPR CEC.
He recalled that all citizens of the DPR have the opportunity to vote, both on its territory and outside. Voters can vote from home (in this case, members of the precinct commission will come to them) or at the polling station itself.
An employee of the election commission, Larisa Odintsova, also told an Izvestia correspondent that everyone had been waiting for this referendum for a long time. She noted that the townspeople are positive.
“People are so happy and satisfied! Everyone is so happy about this, I just can’t convey. With whom I communicate, with neighbors, friends, they say: “My God, are we really returning home ?!” Everyone is tuned only to the positive, ”said Odintsova.
The day before, Izvestia correspondent Semyon Yeremin spoke about Donetsk’s preparations for the referendum. The journalist, commenting on the upcoming event, called this stage for the DPR one of the key moments in personal history.
On the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Russians, residents of the Donbass republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. He noted that Russia cannot but respond to the sincere desire of the inhabitants of these regions to determine their lives. The President also assured that Russia would do everything to ensure safe conditions for referendums on joining the liberated territories into the Russian Federation.
Referendums on joining Russia will be held in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) from 23 to 27 September. During the same period, referendums will be held in Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
The overwhelming majority of residents of the DPR and LPR, as well as Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, support the holding of a referendum. According to the results of the RIPSI poll, in the DPR, 94% of the electorally active (ready to take part in the referendum) respondents were in favor of joining the republic to Russia. In the LPR, 93% of the polled citizens support this option, in the Zaporozhye region, 87% are ready to support it, and in the Kherson region, 80%.
On February 24, Russia launched a special operation to protect Donbass. The decision was made against the background of the aggravation of the situation in the region as a result of shelling by the Ukrainian military.
For more up-to-date videos and details about the situation in Donbass, watch the Izvestia TV channel.
#Izvestia #learned #mood #residents #DPR #eve #referendum