After Russia launched troops into Ukraine's pro-Western neighbor, the head of the Lugansk breakaway territory suggested Sunday that the region may organize a referendum on joining Russia.
"I believe that a referendum will be held on the republic's territory in the near future, during which the people will... express their view on joining the Russian Federation," Leonid Pasechnik was cited as saying by Russian news media.
He stated, "I am certain this will be the case."
On February 24, Russia began military operations in Ukraine, claiming to be defending the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics in the country's east.
President Vladimir Putin had recognized the two territories as independent just two days before.
The possibility of a referendum elicited varied reactions.
"I believe this is not the proper time," said Leonid Kalashnikov, the head of Russia's lower house of parliament's committee on ties with the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States.
"It is hardly essential to worry oneself with such matters when the fate at the front is being decided," he said, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
However, Andrei Klishas, the leader of the upper house's constitutional legislation committee, said the breakaway regions had every right to decide their own fate.
"Russia has recognized the sovereignty of the People's Republics of Lugansk and Donetsk," he told Russian news agency RIA Novosti. "These republics' authorities have the authority to make any decisions they see fit in conformity with their constitutions."
In 2014, the industrial, primarily Russian-speaking districts rebelled against Kyiv, resulting in more than 14,000 deaths.
After a pro-Moscow leader was deposed in a popular revolt in Kyiv in February 2014, and a referendum on joining Russia was held in the southern area, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.
