Ukrainian separatists discard Putin’s request to suspend referendum

Ukrainian separatists announced their intention to hold the autonomy referendum scheduled for next Sunday, discarding this way the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s request to postpone it in order to open a dialogue.

The measure was adopted unanimously by the 78 members of the joint assembly, representatives of the municipalities and districts in the region, who voted in favor; Lugansk province which borders Russia, did the same.

For his part, Andréi Purgin, leader of the radical group of Republic Donetsk, said: `It is up to us (the leaders of the revolt) whom it corresponds to be the citizens´s speaker; they are who have taken the decision, not the politicians.´

At the moment, there are a total of 1,200 polling stations prepared according to updated data from the rebel directory, three million ballots printed and strengthened security measures.