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EKO HOT BLOG reports that the United States has said it has “highly credible” intelligence reports that Russia is planning to annex two Ukrainian regions and declare a third “people’s republic” in the southeast.
Moscow may annex the two existing proxy states – the self-described people’s republics in Luhansk and Donetsk “some time in mid-May”, the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Michael Carpenter, said on Monday.
There were also indications that Russia had designs on Kherson by turning the southeastern city into a third “people’s republic”.
Russia currently controls Kherson. Last week, Moscow said it plans to introduce the rouble as the official currency in the city.
“According to the most recent reports, we believe that Russia will try to annex the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ and ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’ to Russia,” Carpenter said.
In 2014, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine and backed separatists in the two statelets – known as DPR and LNR – in the east.
At the time, referendums on status were held in those areas, which the international community said were illegal.
FURTHER READING
Days before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow broke with a years-long policy to recognise the DPR and the LNR as independent.
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