White House rejects proposed Donbas referendum

A proposed vote in Donbas regarding its ties with
Ukraine was dismissed by the Trump administration on Friday, July 20. According
to the Financial Times, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Garrett
Marquis said that “the administration is not considering supporting a
referendum in eastern Ukraine,” and that the Minsk Agreements are in place to
bring about peace in the region.

Marquis’ statement comes in response to an
announcement from Russian ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov. Antonov had
claimed that the possibility of conducting a referendum in the region out of
Ukraine’s governmental control had been announced by Russian Federation
President Vladimir Putin at a meeting in Moscow of Russian diplomats on July
19. Putin explained that he had refrained from mentioning it immediately after
meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Helsinki on July 16 to let Trump
mull over the idea.

James Hydzik: The
outright loss of Donbas or Crimea to Russia through an explicit oral and
personal agreement between presidents Putin and Trump had been one of the worst-case
scenarios mentioned in Ukrainian political circles. The exchange of statements
by administrations shows that like with the case of Trump back-tracking on his
statement denying Russian interference in the 2016 election, no matter what the
presidents claim or think they have agreed to personally, there are still
institutions with which they have to deal.