LUHANSK, November 3 (RIA Novosti) —The number of people's republics in Novorossiya is likely to increase, as many locals in the region oppose the Kiev government, the newly-elected head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), Igor Plotnitsky said Monday.
"There should be not [just] two republics in Novorossiya [but many of them]. And when there are enough of them, it will develop accordingly," Plotnitsky said, adding that new people's republics are likely to be proclaimed in the area.
According to Plotnitsky this has nothing to do with independence supporters preparing for a war in the region, but the fact that there are people in every region of Ukraine who oppose the Kiev authorities.
"They were unable to stifle the people's spirit, they managed to weight it down, to suppress it temporarily but it's impossible to defeat it. Everything will go and the fear will go. Nazism is not eternal, it is rough, it is severe, it kills, it burns books, but it's not eternal. The people will wake up and begin to see it. New republics will appear — including in Vinnitsa, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Cherkassk and Chernihiv. And all of this is not far off," Plotnitsky said.
In April, Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation in the country's southeast, where independence supporters refused to accept the new government put in power following a coup in February. This political discontent saw the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine declare themselves People's Republics which later formed the union of Novorossiya.
On Sunday, the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics held elections for the heads of local government and representatives of the legislative bodies. The electoral process went ahead with no violations recorded that could affect the results.
Earlier on Monday Election Commission Chief Sergei Kozyakov announced that the acting head of the LPR Igor Plotnitsky won the Luhansk vote a 63.8 percent majority.
