Russia "respects will of people in Donetsk and Lugansk"

Russia "respects will of people in Donetsk and Lugansk"

MOSCOW -- Moscow "hopes that the referendums in the Donetsk and Lugansk will result in a civilized dialogue between representatives of Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk."

This was announced by the Kremlin press service on Monday.

“Moscow respects the expression of will of the population of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions and proceeds on the basis that the implementation of the results of the referendums will be carried out in a civilized way, without any relapse of violence, through dialogue between representatives of Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk,” the statement says.

“In the interests of building such dialogue any mediation efforts, including through the OSCE, are welcome,” the Russian president’s press service said, and added: “Russia closely watched preparations and the holding of the referendums in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions. We mark a high voter turnout despite attempts to disrupt the vote."

Moscow also denounced the use of force “including the use of heavy armament against civilians, which lead to casualties,” the press service said.

Earlier in the day, Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the president "will formulate a position on the referendum held in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk based on the strength of these results."

What that decision will be is "difficult to predict," said Peskov, as reported by the Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

Asked whether Putin's attitude will be affected by the fact that he himself had asked the supporters federalization in eastern Ukraine to postpone the referendum, Peskov said that the Russian president "did not make a demand, but a recommended."...