MOSCOW, September 30 – Novosti. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a minute of silence in memory of those killed in the Donbass.
“They are the heroes of great Russia, and I ask you to honor their memory with a minute of silence,” Putin said during a speech in the Kremlin following the results of the referendums.
He noted that Russia will always remember the heroes of the “Russian Spring”, those who did not come to terms with the neo-Nazi coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014 .
“All those who died for the right to speak their native language, preserve their culture, traditions, faith, for the right to live – these are the soldiers of Donbass, the martyrs of Odessa Khatyn , the victims of inhuman terrorist attacks staged by the Kiev regime. These are volunteers and militias, these are civilians, children, women, old people, Russians, Ukrainians, people of various nationalities,” Putin said.
“These are the real people’s leaders of Donetsk – Alexander Zakharchenko , these are military commanders Arsen Pavlov and Vladimir Zhoga, Olga Kachura and Alexei Mozgovoy , this is the prosecutor of the Luhansk Republic Sergey Gorenko , this is paratrooper Nurmagomed Gadzhimagomedov, all our soldiers and officers who died a heroic death during a special military operations,” he added.
Referendums on the question of joining Russia were held from 23 to 27 September in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics , as well as in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions . According to the results of processing 100% of the ballots in the DPR , 99.23% of those who voted for joining the Russian Federation, in the LPR – 98.42%, in the Kherson region – 87.05%, in the Zaporozhye region – 93.11%.
The public addressed the regional authorities with the initiative to immediately hold referendums. According to representatives of the republics and regions, joining Russia will secure their territories and restore historical justice. In their opinion, this decision is extremely necessary in the context of constant acts of terror by the Ukrainian authorities and NATO members , who supply weapons to kill civilians. Putin said on September 21 that Russia would support the decision, which will be made by the residents of Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.
