Luhansk ‘people’s republic head’ Pasechnik signs law on referendum on joining Russia, which will take place from 23 to 27 September

“Head” of the Luhansk “people’s republic” (“LPR”) Leonid Pasechnik has signed a law on a referendum about joining the Russian Federation, reports Russia’s state news agency TASS, citing Denis Miroshnichenko, chairman of the “LPR People’s Council”.

The referendum will take place from 23 to 27 September.

“The People’s Council orders <...> to define [the time period from] 23 September 2022 to 27 September 2022 the days of voting in the referendum,” declared Miroshnichenko.

Earlier today, the “LPR People’s Council” deputies approved the law on the referendum.

Yesterday, 19 September, the public chamber of the self-proclaimed “LPR” asked Pasechnik to urgently conduct a referendum on joining the Russian Federation.

Earlier today, the public council of the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine and the “public movement ‘Together with Russia’” of the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region also asked to urgently hold referendums on the regions entering the Russian Federation.

At the beginning of September, Russian media outlet RBC, citing five sources close to the presidential administration, reported that the Kremlin had been planning to conduct referendums on joining Russia in the “LDPR”, as well as the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions by the end of autumn. Furthermore, the most “optimistic” scenario — holding the referendums in September — was unlikely to occur due to the “situation” at the frontlines, the sources said back then.

Later, Meduza reported that the Russian government had pushed back the referendums on the occupied territories of Ukraine “indefinitely” due to the successful counteroffensive led by Ukraine’s Armed Forces in the Kharkiv region.