NATO has come out denouncing Donbass referendums scheduled to start later this week that will give people a vote on if they want to join Russia.
RT:
Reacting to the announcement that the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR) will hold a ballot to join Russia later this week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday called them illegitimate and demanded more support for Ukraine from the “international community.”
“Sham referendums have no legitimacy and do not change the nature of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said on Twitter, calling it “a further escalation in [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war.”
“The international community must condemn this blatant violation of international law and step up support for Ukraine,” Stoltenberg added.
The Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR and DPR) will hold a vote for unification with Russia on September 23-27, their leaders said on Tuesday morning. The Russian-held territories of the neighboring Zaporozhye and Kherson regions will also vote starting on Friday.
Why is it a sham as Stoltenberg has claimed? Holding referendums and giving everybody a vote is by definition democracy.
I thought the West is a big supporter of democracy? Or are they only a supporter of democracy when it suits their interests? If they were all for democracy, they’d be totally in favor of giving people a vote and letting them decide if they want to join Russia or not.
The West obviously won’t recognize the legitimacy of these referendums regardless of the outcome. Of course, that doesn’t really matter since the West itself is becoming increasingly less relevant on the world stage.
