MOSCOW, August 18 (RIA Novosti) - An online petition demanding Washington categorize the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics as terrorist organizations failed to get enough signatures for the government to consider the document.
The petition was placed on the White House website on June 19, and mustered only 7,400 of the 100,000 signatures necessary to be considered by the authorities.
“April 2014, the representatives of military groups declared the establishment of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics…Since the moment of the republics’ establishment, more than 1,000 people have died, two large industrial regions have been destroyed, and along with this 10,000 people have fled the conflict area,” the document states.
Since mid-April, Kiev authorities have been conducting a special military operation in the east of Ukraine to suppress the independence movement. The violence intensified after the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics declared independence from Ukraine in May. Moscow has described the ongoing military operation as punitive and called for immediate end to bloodshed.
