Kolomoiskiy initiates anti-separatist “referendum” for May 11

Activists have initiated a public opinion poll in Donetsk and Luhansk regions to join them to the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine, news sources reported on May 1. The “referendum”, scheduled for May 11, is being organized by the Inter-regional Council of Territorial Communities (founded by Dnipropetrovk governor, Ukrainian tycoon Ihor Kolomoiskiy). A leader of the initiative, Mykhialo Lysenko, reported that citizens of Donetsk and Luhansk regions will choose whether they want to “submit to the will of the aggressor-state appointees… which will lead to destruction of our country”, or if they want “to see themselves as part of a unified Ukraine”. 

Alexander Paraschiy: While it’s clear that the voting for joining to Dnipropetrovsk region is more of a farce, we see that primary goal of such an initiative is to demonstrate how farcical is the “referendum for independence” that is called for May 11 by anti-Ukrainian extremists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. On top of that, such an initiative is good promotion for pro-Ukrainian moods in the two most-eastern regions of Ukraine and a good mobilization factor for the anti-separatism activists there. With creative initiatives like this poll, Kolomoiskiy has managed to fully overcome any pro-Russian movements in the Dnipropetrovsk region. This initiative gives us more confidence that the separatists’ poll will fail next Sunday and that Russia will not be able to use the “Crimean scenario” in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.