News > Putin might hold sham referendums in Luhansk and Donetsk

Putin might hold sham referendums in Luhansk and Donetsk

Russia plans to annexe much of eastern Ukraine later in the month, a senior US official has said. Putin could annex the states of Luhansk and Donetsk the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Michael Carpenter, said.

Carpenter said that Moscow plans to hold sham referendums in Luhansk and Donetsk which would “try to add a veneer of democratic or electoral legitimacy” and attach the regions to Russia.