Luhansk regional council backs referendum on region’s status

“We are backing the Luhansk residents’ initiative to hold a
referendum over the status of Luhansk region in accordance with the
requirements adopted at the meetings of our region’s territorial
communities,” the council said on its website on May 5.

At a meeting on May 5 the Luhansk regional public council, which
includes leaders of public organizations and associations, discussed the
May 11 referendum and suggested that the ballot should include one
question: “Do you support the Act of State Independence of the Luhansk
People’s Republic?” according to the South-East public movement.

“Also a decision has been made to grant broader powers to the
people’s governor of the Luhansk region, Valeriy Bolotov,” the
spokesperson said.

All regional ministries and government departments, including police,
security and prosecutors, should be re-subordinated to Bolotov, the
council said.

The Public Council shall have control over the regional administration and the governor, according to the council’s decision.

At the same time, the Luhansk regional council presidium asked
leaders in the European Union, the United States and Russia “to demand
that Kyiv start immediate talks between the government and
representatives of the southeast, including rebels, and continue the
international talks over Ukraine.”

The outcome of these talks “should be decisions mandatory for all the
parties. Otherwise, the fire of the civil war will not be put out. And
there is no guarantee that its sparks will not spread beyond Ukraine,”
the council said.

The current central government “must immediately stop all punitive
operations, bring troops back to their bases and disarm all militarized
groups, return to the agreements reached on February 21 and witnessed by
foreign diplomats, immediately pass a law on amnesty for all protestors
in southeast Ukraine, disarm all illegally armed right-wing radical
groups, primarily the Right Sector, and establish Russian as a second
official language,” the council presidium said.

The central government must also “give broader powers for local
self-governments enough to ensure that the regions are no longer
dependent on Kyiv and their residents can elect local executive leaders
and decide how to spend the money earned in their territory and to
ensure an objective inquiry into the mass killings of Odesa residents
and the killing of civilians by the army in the Donetsk region,” Luhansk
Regional Council said.