Head of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs Leonid Kalashnikov on Tuesday said he believes Russia will recognize the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics as independent states within the borders that they set at a referendum to proclaim their independence in 2014.
"This agreement doesn’t specify but I think what’s being meant is sovereignty that was affirmed by the old and only referendum, which was held within different borders compared with what the DPR has now," he told reporters. "The DPR and LPR now occupy a smaller territory compared with what they had at the time of the referendum but they believe their sovereignty extends to that territory as well.".
