The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic on the creation of a new state - Little Russia. According to him, this is necessary to overcome the deadlock in Ukraine. It is planned to make Donetsk the capital; Kyiv is destined to become a historical and cultural center. I figured out what the new state could be like and what would happen with the Minsk agreements.

Re-establishment of Ukraine

At a special press conference, Zakharchenko read out the Constitutional Act of Little Russia, as well as a political declaration. He announced the creation of a new state on behalf of representatives of the regions of the “former Ukraine”. “We agree that the new state will be called Little Russia, since the very name “Ukraine” has discredited itself,” he said. It is planned to make the flag of Bohdan Khmelnytsky the state flag. “We proceed from the fact that the Donetsk People’s Republic, along with the Lugansk People’s Republic, remain the only territories of Ukraine, not counting Crimea, where legitimate power has been preserved,” Zakharchenko added. He also noted that a state of emergency would be introduced on the territory of Little Russia for three years. According to him, this is being done “in order to avoid chaos.” “During this time, the activities of any parties are prohibited, at the same time investigations begin with the involvement of the international community into crimes in Odessa, on the Maidan, in the Donbass. This decision has been ripe for a long time, but everything has its time, and today we are offering the option that will stop the war,” Zakharchenko said.

The need to create Little Russia is explained by the fact that the Ukrainian state is destroyed and, in his opinion, cannot be restored. According to him, the situation in Donbass has reached a dead end, a “knot has been tied that can no longer be cut.” The head of the DPR emphasized that in this regard, a new plan for the reintegration of Ukraine is needed. “Not long ago we launched a state program to unite the peoples of Donbass; we offer all residents of Ukraine a way out of the war through the re-establishment of the country - this is a peaceful way out,” Zakharchenko said. He also listed the conditions under which the idea will be implemented: it must be supported by the residents of Ukraine and the international community. However, whether they will do this is still unclear.

The Minister of Revenue and Duties of the DPR that Little Russia will become a federal state with broad autonomy. Issues of the federal budget, army and intelligence services will remain under the jurisdiction of the central authorities. “We propose to elect representatives from all regions on a personal basis to the Constitutional Assembly, at which the country of Little Russia will be established and a new constitution will be adopted,” he said. Timofeev added that the Constitution of Little Russia will be adopted in a national referendum after discussion. Before this, “a broad public discussion will be held at both the regional and federal levels.” The official added that the new state will set a course towards joining the union of Russia and Belarus.

"Looks weird"

The announcement of the creation of Little Russia raises several questions. Firstly, the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic denied its participation in the project. The head of the LPR did not say a word about this, but the chairman of the people's council, Vladimir Degtyarenko, expressed doubts about the feasibility of the Donetsk initiative. “The Lugansk People's Republic did not send official delegates to Donetsk to participate in the meeting of representatives of the regions of Ukraine. Moreover, we were not even aware of the intention to hold this event; this issue was not agreed upon with us,” Degtyarenko explained.

The second important point: it is not very clear how the creation of Little Russia correlates with the Minsk agreements. Actually, after the signing of the Minsk agreements, another integration project, Novorossiya, the creation of which was announced on May 24, 2014, sank into oblivion. It was assumed that the Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Odessa, Nikolaev, Kharkov and Kherson regions of Ukraine would be able to join Novorossiya. In the south-east of Ukraine at that time there were mass protests of citizens outraged by the events on the Maidan; many were inspired by the initiative. However, in May 2015, Donbass officials announced the “closure of the project.” The speaker of the Novorossiya parliament then explained that “the activity is frozen because it does not fit into the peace plan signed in the presence of the Normandy Four countries.” Moreover, in January 2017, Alexander Zakharchenko said that because of the Minsk agreements, the unification of the DPR and LPR is impossible. According to him, he and Igor Plotnitsky are “signatories of the Minsk agreements.” “This means that there are two signatures as heads of state. Today, any unification is a change in the Minsk format itself, which we are not ready for at the moment,” explained the head of the DPR.

Now, however, in Donetsk, Little Russia does not contradict the agreements in the Belarusian capital. “Our proposals do not contradict Minsk-2. This is the implementation of "Minsk". In “Minsk” there is no definition of what or how it should be called, there is integrity of borders, sovereignty. So, we proclaimed the sovereignty and integrity of the borders,” DPR Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Timofeev told reporters.

Oleg Tsarev told journalists that the creation of Little Russia raises many questions: “Firstly, Zakharchenko had to coordinate this with the parliament of the republic. Secondly, with the Lugansk People's Republic. But there are no statements from [Igor] Plotnitsky, although they should have announced this together. It all looks strange."

It is still difficult to talk about the prospects of the new state. It is clear that Little Russia will not receive recognition from international structures, just as the DPR and LPR did not receive it. At the beginning of March, Zakharchenko allocated only 60 days of life to the Ukrainian state - perhaps the head of the DPR is still confident in his forecast and is preparing to take over the power that is about to collapse in Kyiv.

On the other hand, the Donetsk initiative may provoke increased activity of Ukrainian security officials and politicians. In Kyiv, the idea of ​​abolishing the ATO (anti-terrorist operation in Kyiv is called military operations in Donbass) has been actively discussed lately, and a law on armed operations is being prepared for adoption. It is possible that the emergence of Little Russia will lead to a complete rejection of the Minsk agreements by the parties and a new aggravation on the contact line. The President of Ukraine has already “buried” the integration project.

The idea of ​​the head of the DPR Alexander Zakharchenko about creating a federal state of Little Russia turned out to be an initiative of his circle and was unexpected for the Kremlin, two sources close to the presidential administration said to RBC

Alexander Zakharchenko (Photo: Viktor Drachev / TASS)

On Tuesday, July 18, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko, announced the creation of a new federal state called Little Russia, which, according to him, will include all regions of what is now Ukraine. For the assistant to the Russian President Vladislav Surkov, who is in charge of the Ukrainian direction, Zakharchenko’s initiative was a surprise, according to two RBC sources close to the presidential administration.

“The initiative 100% did not come from Surkov,” one of the sources told RBC. According to him, the idea came from the entourage of the head of the DPR. “The administration was out of touch. This is a personal initiative of Zakharchenko and his associates,” confirmed another RBC interlocutor.

An expert close to Vladislav Surkov, Alexey Chesnakov, told TASS that the project of creating Little Russia was put forward by a number of writers and bloggers close to the leadership of the DPR, and many in the leadership of the Donetsk Republic itself consider it frivolous. “The project is more literary than political. The Little Russian initiative has nothing to do with real politics,” he said. “There is a lot of noise, but in a month everyone will forget about Little Russia, including the authors of this idea,” the expert concluded.

A message on the Donetsk Republic News portal said that the decision to create Little Russia was made jointly by the authorities of the DPR and LPR. But in the coming hours after Zakharchenko’s statement, the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic became involved in the idea of ​​Little Russia. The LPR authorities did not take part in the meeting held in Donetsk, at which the creation of a new state called Little Russia was announced, said the chairman of the LPR People's Council Vladimir Degtyarenko.

According to Zakharchenko, the new state will be called Little Russia, “since the very name Ukraine has discredited itself.” Donetsk should be the capital of Little Russia, while Kyiv will become its historical and cultural center. Little Russia will become a federal state with broad autonomy, DPR Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Timofeev. According to the DPR leadership, the central authorities will deal with issues of the federal budget, army and intelligence services. Timofeev proposed to “elect on a personal basis” representatives from the regions to the Constitutional Assembly and there to establish a “new country of Little Russia” and adopt a new constitution in a national referendum. According to the “official website” of the DPR, Little Russia should consist of 19 regions of the former Ukraine.

TALLINN, July 18 – Sputnik. In the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, they proposed creating a new state, Little Russia, for a transition period of up to three years, RIA Novosti reports.

According to the head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko, the establishment of Little Russia is the last proposal for exiting the civil war; it will help stop the conflict in Donbass, but the support of the international community and residents is important.

"The situation has reached a dead end. We propose a plan for the reintegration of the country... To stop the civil war, we discussed the situation and came to the conclusion that Ukraine has shown itself to be a failed state. The Kiev regime is not able to leave the civil war... we propose to establish the state of Little Russia. Little Russia - an independent young state. For a transition period of up to 3 years,” Zakharchenko said on July 18.

According to the head of the DPR, the support of the international community is important for the creation of Little Russia.

“Residents of the regions must support us. This exit is possible provided that the international community supports the idea. We propose to establish the state of Little Russia,” Zakharchenko said.

Federal state with broad autonomy

The act on the creation of a “new state” with its capital in Donetsk, the legal successor of Ukraine, was read out by the Minister of Revenue and Duties of the self-proclaimed DPR, Alexander Timofeev. He noted that this option “will help stop the war.”

“We, representatives of the former Ukraine, declare the establishment of a new state, which is the legal successor of Ukraine. We agree that the new state will be called Little Russia, since the name Ukraine itself has discredited itself. The city of Donetsk becomes the capital of Little Russia,” Timofeev said, reading constitutional act.

It is proposed that Little Russia will become a federal state with broad autonomy. Issues of the federal budget, army, and intelligence services should remain under the jurisdiction of the central authorities.

“We propose to elect representatives from all regions on a personal basis to the Constitutional Assembly, at which to establish the country of Little Russia and adopt a new constitution,” said the Minister of Revenue and Duties of the DPR.

The Constitution of Little Russia will be adopted in a national referendum after discussion, said Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Revenue and Duties of the self-proclaimed DPR Alexander Timofeev.

“The Constitution of Little Russia is prepared and adopted in its original version by the constitutional assembly and submitted to a national referendum. This will be preceded by a broad public discussion at both the regional and federal levels,” Timofeev said.

Federalization is an inevitable path for Ukraine

Senator from Crimea Sergei Tsekov supported Zakharchenko’s proposal, noting that a federal state “is an inevitable path for Ukraine, and the sooner this happens, the better.”

“Ukraine needs a serious internal restructuring, it must become a federal state, since the country is very different - in the south and north, east and west,” Tsekov noted.

Little Russia, he said, could also be part of such a federal state; historical experience shows the possibility of such a solution. “To implement this plan, a lot of work is needed, including with European countries,” the legislator emphasized. He recalled that in Germany they had already talked about the possibility of such a solution.

In addition, in order to become a full-fledged state, Ukraine needs to restore good neighborly relations with Russia, the parliamentarian noted. He complained that “the current Ukrainian authorities will not implement this format of state development, since they are following the path of fascisation and nationalization of Ukraine.” The situation will change for the better with each new government in Kyiv, and this improvement will be felt in both the Russian Federation and the EU, Tsekov believes.

On February 22, 2014, there was a change of power in Ukraine that had signs of a coup. At rallies in early April 2014, residents of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine, who did not recognize the legitimacy of the February coup, proclaimed the creation of “people’s republics.” After referendums held in May, the republics declared their sovereignty, formed their own government bodies, and in November elections of heads of republics and parliamentary deputies were held in the DPR and LPR.

In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against the self-proclaimed LPR and DPR.

The issue of resolving the situation in Donbass is being discussed, including during meetings of the contact group in Minsk. Kyiv, the US and the EU have previously repeatedly accused Moscow of interfering in the affairs of Ukraine. Russia denies this and calls such accusations unacceptable. Moscow has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the internal Ukrainian conflict and is not involved in the events in the southeast, and is interested in Ukraine overcoming the political and economic crisis. Moscow emphasizes that Russia is not a subject of the Minsk agreements on Ukraine and can only put pressure on the conflicting parties.

MOSCOW, July 18- RIA News. The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko, announced his intention to create a new state of Little Russia with its capital in Donetsk; At the same time, Denis Pushilin, Speaker of the DPR Parliament, noted that the idea is perceived very ambiguously, including in the republic itself. The Kremlin called Zakharchenko’s idea his personal initiative and emphasized that Moscow remains committed to the Minsk agreements.

According to the authors of the project, the new state can unite the DPR and the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic, as well as those regions controlled by the Ukrainian authorities that want to join. Meanwhile, Lugansk has already stated that no one discussed the project with the LPR, and expressed doubts about the feasibility of the idea itself at the moment.

Little Russia, according to the authors of the project, could become the legal successor of Ukraine, a federal state with broad autonomy. This, according to Zakharchenko, will save the situation in Donbass from civil war. In response, the Ukrainian authorities have already hastened to declare that they will restore control over Donbass. Experts believe that the announcement of the creation of a Little Russian state indicates a split in Ukraine, but at the same time point out that Zakharchenko’s project will not have any serious consequences.

New State

"The situation has reached a dead end. We propose a plan for the reintegration of the country... To stop the civil war, we discussed the situation and came to the conclusion that Ukraine has shown itself to be a failed state. The Kiev regime is not able to leave the civil war... We propose to establish the state of Little Russia. Little Russia - an independent young state. For a transition period of up to three years,” Zakharchenko told reporters.

He also stated that the establishment of a new independent state is the last proposal for exiting the civil war.

“Residents of the regions must support us. This exit is possible only if the international community supports the idea,” Zakharchenko said.

A new state will be created within the borders of the territory of modern Ukraine, he later said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. “We were born in the same country, this is our land, our ancestors died for this land, and why should we give to some Banderas what our grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought for?” - said the head of the DPR. He also clarified that the question of who will lead Little Russia will be resolved later.

Under the flag of Bohdan Khmelnitsky

Deputy Prime Minister of the DPR, Minister of Revenue and Duties Alexander Timofeev, said that Little Russia would become a federal state with broad autonomy; he also read out the constitutional act on the formation of a new state.

“We, representatives of the former Ukraine, declare the establishment of a new state, which is the legal successor of Ukraine. We agree that the new state will be called Little Russia, since the name Ukraine itself has discredited itself. The city of Donetsk becomes the capital of Little Russia,” Timofeev said, reading constitutional act.

It is proposed to leave issues of the federal budget, army, and intelligence services under the jurisdiction of the central authorities.

“We propose to select representatives from all regions on a personal basis to the Constitutional Assembly, at which the country of Little Russia will be established and a new constitution will be adopted,” Timofeev said.

According to him, the Constitution will be prepared by the constitutional assembly and adopted after broad public discussion and a referendum. The Basic Law of Little Russia proposes to consolidate its non-aligned status and set a course for restoring ties with Moscow and joining the Union State of Russia and Belarus while maintaining independence and sovereignty, the DPR Deputy Prime Minister noted.

“Little Russia is a multinational state, the official languages ​​of which are Little Russian and Russian, while preserving the rights of regional languages,” Timofeev read out the constitutional act of Little Russia. The document also notes a focus on a visa-free regime with the European Union if it agrees, as well as “de-oligarchization, including at the legislative level.” The flag of Bohdan Khmelnytsky was chosen as the state flag.

According to Timofeev, the proposal to create Little Russia does not contradict the Minsk agreements on Donbass. “In Minsk there is no definition of what or how it should be called, there is the integrity of the borders, sovereignty. So, we proclaimed the sovereignty and integrity of the borders,” the DPR Deputy Prime Minister told reporters.

The Kremlin is committed to Minsk

Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that the proposal to create Little Russia is a personal initiative of the head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko.

“Moscow learned about this this morning from the media. We remain committed to the Minsk agreements,” Peskov told reporters.

A controversial idea for the DPR

Meanwhile, the speaker of the DPR parliament and the republic’s representative at the negotiations on Donbass, Denis Pushilin, thinks somewhat differently than the authors of the idea of ​​Little Russia. Pushilin said that “at the moment this is just an idea, which is still perceived very ambiguously in the LPR, the DPR, and the Russian Federation.” He also noted that the parliaments of the DPR and LPR do not face political tasks in this direction. According to him, the issue of creating Little Russia is debatable, it is necessary to know the opinion of society.

“The creation of the state entity Malorossiya could be an interesting initiative. However, in my opinion, it would be more correct to first submit such issues for discussion by parliament and a national referendum,” Pushilin said.

Kyiv threatens

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, after unveiling the idea of ​​creating Little Russia, stated that “Ukraine will restore sovereignty over Donbass and Crimea.” Wrote about this in Twitter his press secretary Svyatoslav Tsegolko. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin, commenting on Zakharchenko’s words, said that Kyiv will not allow the “Abkhaz scenario to play out in Donbass.” And the representative of Kyiv in the security subgroup of the contact group on Donbass, Yevgeny Marchuk, claims that the statement of the DPR authorities on the creation of Little Russia blocks the negotiation process in Minsk, in fact “puts an end to” the Minsk agreements.

Moscow and Donetsk promptly responded to such rhetoric from Kyiv. Deputy commander of the operational command of the DPR Eduard Basurin said that the republic is ready to fight back if Kiev provokes an escalation in the Donbass. “Yes, we are ready for the active phase of hostilities if it unfolds on the Ukrainian side,” Basurin said.

In turn, the first deputy head of the defense committee of the Russian Federation Council, Franz Klintsevich, called Poroshenko’s statement Manilovism. “The reaction of Petro Poroshenko, who responded to the statement about the creation of Little Russia with the words that Ukraine would restore sovereignty over Donbass and Crimea, was quite expected. Pure Manilovism, which has nothing to do with reality,” Klintsevich wrote on his page in Facebook.

We did not discuss with Lugansk

At the same time, the senator noted that conclusions about the implementation of the idea of ​​​​creating Little Russia can only be drawn after the unification of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics.

“It is now difficult to say how far the self-proclaimed republics are ready to go in implementing this initiative. Logically, the first step towards the creation of Little Russia should be the unification of the DPR and LPR. Only after this will it be possible to draw any definite conclusions,” Klintsevich wrote.

Meanwhile, the leadership of the Lugansk People's Republic stated that it did not send its representatives to the meeting on the creation of Little Russia, and this issue was not agreed upon with the republic, said the Chairman of the People's Council of the LPR, Vladimir Degtyarenko. The press service of the head of the self-proclaimed republic, Igor Plotnitsky, confirmed to RIA Novosti that “this project was not even discussed with the LPR.”

As Plotnitsky’s press service stated, the LPR “was created as a result of the will of the people,” and the republic’s authorities do not have the right to take such steps “without taking into account the opinion of the residents.” The LPR considers it important to remain committed to the Minsk agreements and intends to further demand their implementation from Kyiv, the press service clarified.

LPR Plenipotentiary Representative at the Minsk negotiations Vladislav Deinego called this initiative by Zakharchenko “untimely.”

Ukraine

The statement on the creation of Little Russia indicates the fact of a split in Ukraine along ideological lines, says Bogdan Bezpalko, deputy director of the Center for Ukrainian and Belarusian Studies at Moscow State University.

“Current Ukraine is a blanket sewn from different scraps. One of these patches, in fact, is Little Russia. But the problem is that historically these patches are very different from each other, including to the point of hostility between its inhabitants,” he said he is RIA Novosti.

“The announcement of the creation of a new state of Little Russia could be the first step towards a split in all of Ukraine, the blame for which lies entirely with the Kiev authorities; the country’s President Petro Poroshenko is unable to ensure the implementation of the Minsk agreements,” Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the international committee of the Federation Council, told RIA Novosti.

He emphasized that Poroshenko has no real power to implement the provisions of Minsk to change the constitution, hold elections in the east of the country, grant autonomy to the DPR and LPR, which the parties agreed upon as part of the agreement.

“Due to the inaction of the Kyiv authorities, the situation in Ukraine has actually reached a dead end,” the parliamentarian emphasized.

In turn, the head of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Leonid Kalashnikov, believes that the creation of a new state of Little Russia is not only possible, but also inevitable. “Judging by what is happening in Ukraine, the authorities, instead of resolving the issue, are tightening the noose of hostilities tighter and tighter, and the people cannot live in war all the time - something needs to be done,” he told RIA Novosti.

An idea without political consequences?

At the same time, in general, experts consider it unlikely that the Little Russia project will be implemented, at least at this stage.

The self-proclaimed republics in the Donbass do not have the resources to implement the proposal of the head of the DPR, Alexander Zakharchenko, so it is unlikely that such an initiative will lead to any serious political consequences, the director of the Center for Political Conjuncture, Alexey Chesnakov, is convinced. “Therefore, we can only talk about an attempt at symbolic entertainment,” he told RIA Novosti.

He also expressed an opinion similar to Pushilin’s words that this idea is ambiguous. “The project of creating Little Russia was put forward by a number of writers and bloggers close to the leadership of the DPR. In the leadership of the DPR itself, many consider it frivolous. Therefore, this project is more literary than political,” Chesnakov told reporters.

In his opinion, the Little Russian initiative has nothing to do with real politics. “It is known for sure that the leadership of the LPR perceived it as uncoordinated and untimely. A lot of noise was made, but in a month everyone will forget about Little Russia, including the authors of this idea,” says the political scientist.

Director of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights (MBHR) Alexander Brod believes that the idea of ​​​​creating an independent state of Little Russia is unlikely to find support from the international community; in general, the prospects for this idea are “hazy.”

“The international community will also not accept these ideas about creating a new state. Even if Little Russia is created through a referendum on the basis of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, the international community will not recognize them. It will be an unrecognized state, which, like Abkhazia or South Ossetia, may , recognized by Russia and two or three other states,” Brod suggested.

“There is no need to engage in Manilovism, we need to go step by step, especially since Ukraine is not going to stop military actions against the self-proclaimed republics. The main thing is to achieve a ceasefire with the help of the international community, lift customs restrictions between these republics - this is the first and urgent step, and then it’s time will show,” believes the head of the MBHR.

Does not fit into the Minsk process

International reaction has already followed. The Western members of the Normandy Four - France and Germany - have already called the idea of ​​Little Russia a violation of the Minsk agreements.

“We call on Russia to condemn this fact, which violates the Minsk agreements and betrays the spirit of the negotiations in the Normandy format. Russia must intensify its efforts to end the conflict,” French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Romate-Espagne said at a briefing. And the press service of the German government, RIA Novosti, stated that Berlin considers the proposal to create Little Russia “completely unacceptable.”

In turn, Moscow called Zakharchenko’s idea an invitation to discussion, and not a subject of real politics, and pointed out that the statements of the head of the DPR were a response to the belligerent rhetoric of Kyiv.

“This initiative does not fit into the Minsk process, I perceive it only as an invitation to discussion, this statement does not have any legal consequences,” Boris Gryzlov, Russia’s representative in the Contact Group for resolving the situation in Ukraine, told reporters.

According to Gryzlov, “most likely, this proposal is related to the information war and is not the subject of real politics.”

“I view this as a response to provocative statements by high-ranking politicians in Kyiv, which are often completely unacceptable,” he said.

The head of the international committee of the Federation Council, Konstantin Kosachev, called this idea “unexpected.”

“From my point of view, it does not fit into the general logic of the sequence of actions prescribed in the Minsk agreements,” the senator noted.

According to him, one can and should understand the emotions of people in the south-east of Ukraine, who are tired and despairing of the chronic and cynical inaction of the Kyiv authorities. “But the solution to the accumulated and often urgent problems of Donbass initially and continues to be primarily in the framework of the Minsk process, agreed upon by all parties, and not the unilateral initiatives announced today,” Kosachev is sure.

Alexander Zakharchenko declared the new state the successor of Ukraine

Head of the Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Zakharchenko

Moscow. July 18. website - Head of the DPR Alexander Zakharchenko announced the establishment of a new state of Little Russia.

"We believe that the state of Ukraine in the form that it was cannot be restored. We, representatives of the regions of the former Ukraine, with the exception of Crimea, declare the establishment of a new state, which is the successor to Ukraine. We agree that the new state will be called Little Russia, since the very name Ukraine has discredited itself,” DPR head Alexander Zakharchenko told reporters.

According to him, the city of Donetsk becomes the capital of Little Russia, and the city of Kyiv remains a historical and cultural center without the status of a capital city.

“The state flag of Little Russia is recognized as the flag of Bogdan Khmelnytsky... We proceed from the fact that the Donetsk People’s Republic, along with the Lugansk People’s Republic, remain the only territories of Ukraine, not counting Crimea, where legitimate power has been preserved,” he said.

“In order to avoid chaos, we propose to introduce a state of emergency for three years, during which time the activities of any parties are prohibited, during the same period investigations begin with the involvement of the international community into crimes in Odessa, on the Maidan, in the Donbass. This decision has been ripe for a long time, but everything our time, and today we are offering the option that will stop the war,” Zakharchenko said.

“We are proposing a new plan, a plan for the reintegration of the country. Not long ago we launched a state program to unite the peoples of Donbass, we offer all residents of Ukraine a way out of the war through the re-establishment of the country, this is a peaceful way out. But there are several conditions - the residents of Ukraine themselves must support it "We have already held consultations with representatives of regional authorities and business, and also if the international community supports the idea. This is our first and last proposal," Zakharchenko said.

He believes that the authorities in Kyiv are not legitimate and are not capable of stopping the war. Zakharchenko noted that the situation in Donbass has reached a dead end, and “a knot has arisen that can no longer be cut.”