Go to the mediabankMembers of the election commission during the counting of votes following the results of the referenda on the issue of joining Russia to the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions at a polling station in Moscow. File photoMOSCOW, Oct 8The issue of compliance of referendums with the constitution and legislation of Ukraine does not affect their qualification in international law, Russia is absolutely confident in the rightness of its case and the validity of the steps taken, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. «The issue of compliance of referendums with the Constitution and legislation of Ukraine does not affect their qualification in international law. Let's recall the decision of the International Court of Justice on Kosovo in 2010. According to it, in exercising the right to self-determination, this or that territory is not obliged to apply for permission to declare its sovereignty to the central authorities of the country. Thus, a precedent was created, «he said in an interview with Argumenty i Fakty newspaper.The United States actually trampled on international law, Lavrov said. According to the minister, «it is also necessary to take into account the fact that the first referendums on the independence of the DPR and LPR were held immediately after the coup in Kyiv and the subsequent repressions against their inhabitants.» and freedoms of national minorities, began to actively oust the Russian language from all spheres of life, persecute Russian activists, eliminate opponents of the authorities, put pressure on parishioners of the canonical Orthodox Church.Then, after the Minsk agreements were reached in February 2015, for eight years the issue of international recognition of independence republics did not rise,» the minister said. “Had Ukraine fulfilled its obligations under the Package of Measures, one could speak of the presence in the DPR and LPR of conditions for exercising the right to self-determination within the state of which they were at that time.” Lavrov noted that Kyiv sabotaged the Minsk agreements. «And not only sabotaged, but also headed for the violent suppression of Donbass,» the head of Russian diplomacy recalled. . All this created unbearable living conditions for the population. And, of course, they were incompatible with the realization of the right to self-determination of Donetsk and Luhansk residents within the same country as Kyiv,” the minister stressed. indiscriminate rocket attacks on residential areas, destruction of civilian infrastructure, etc.),» Lavrov noted. «We are absolutely confident in the rightness of our cause and the validity of the steps taken. Our assessments and arguments, which we will continue to share with international partners, are quite obvious, and many of our interlocutors share them,” he concluded. Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke in the Kremlin on September 30 following the results of referendums in the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, after which he signed agreements with their heads on the admission of the regions into Russia.On Wednesday, Putin signed federal laws ratifying the admission of these regions into the Russian Federation. >Foreign Ministry criticized UN Secretary General's statement on referendums
