Free Republic

DONETSK, May 14. /ITAR-TASS/. Oleg Tsarev will prepare a federal agreement for the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, according toa resolution of the coordinating council of the South-East association that was published on Tuesday. According to the document, Tsarev will lead a working group that will be tasked to word a draft agreement for a “unification of the self-proclaimed Luganks and Donetsk People’s Republics into a single entity - the Federal Republic of Novorossia.” Later on, the constitution of the new state and a mechanism for admitting new constituent entities into the would-be federation will be worked out.

Separatists in Donetsk claim a turnout of 74.9% in a referendum on self-determination with 89.7% voting in favor of self-rule. Ukraine says turnout was 32%. I suspect the truth is somewhere in between but that's a pretty wide gap. Even 32% turnout seems respectable given the circumstances. The Ukrainian government claims the election was a farce and the US called it illegal. Nonetheless, Separatists Urge Russia to Annex Donetsk in Wake of Referendum. In a statement, Denis Pushilin, one of the separatist leaders in Donetsk, said the rebels had asked Moscow to consider absorbing the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, “based...

Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - A day after the people of Donetsk apparently voted overwhelmingly to split from Ukraine, an eerie calm reigned on the streets as people wondered what country they had woken up in. Unlike a similar referendum in the peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia in March, there were no wild celebrations, no sense of joy -- just slight confusion about the future and a lingering anger towards the leaders in Kiev. Taxi driver Dmytro Boyko told AFP as he waited to collect his daughter from school that many in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk were "frightened...