MOSCOW. June 1 (Interfax) - Chairman of the Russian State Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee Leonid Slutsky believes it is possible that the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions could hold referendums on their unification with Russia as early as this summer.
"I do not want to predict anything, but I can presume that initiatives on holding referendums in these regions may emerge fairly soon, and it is quite possible that they [referendums] could take place this summer, and it is logical if they would happen more or less simultaneously," Slutsky told reporters on Wednesday.
"Decisions on the unification with Russia of territories liberated during the special operation in Ukraine should be made only by their population," he said.
"It is no secret that these sentiments exist in Donbas, the Kherson regions, and the Zaporizhzhya regions, and they are quite strong," he said.
These issues will also be discussed during a DPR delegation's visit to Russia in early June, Slutsky said.
"At the beginning of June, we will receive a [DPR] People's Council delegation in Moscow. We will certainly discuss all of these issues during a meeting at the faction of the Liberal Democratic Party [LDPR] of Russia," he said.
Slutsky, who heads the LDPR, also added that his party, "like other Russian political forces, will make every effort to help rebuild both the Donbas republics and the other regions of Novorossiya."