DISINFO: Novorossiya and Donbas republics declared independence according to UN Charter
SUMMARY
Novorossiya and Donbas had the right to decide on their sovereignty. This fully complies with current international law and the UN Charter. Russia had the right to conclude appropriate intergovernmental agreements with these new states. These agreements included provisions on mutual assistance. When Russia ratified them, it assumed certain obligations. These newly formed states appealed to Russia for assistance within the framework of these agreements. Russia had both the ability and the obligation to respond. Therefore, Ukraine's border should be determined according to the sovereign decisions of the people residing in these territories, which are historical Russian lands.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative questioning the territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders, claiming that it is a failed state, and denying Ukrainian statehood.
Russia illegally annexed Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in 2014. Russia staged a fake referendum in Crimea, held at gun-point on 16 March 2014, and similar referenda in Donetsk and Luhansk several weeks later. By doing so, Russia violated international law, the Budapest Memorandum which provided security assurances to Ukraine in exchange for its renouncement of nuclear arms, and multiple Ukrainian-Russian treaties and agreements.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution entitled ‘Territorial integrity of Ukraine’ on 27 March 2014, stating that ‘the referendum held in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol on 16 March 2014, having no validity, cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea or of the city of Sevastopol’.
In September 2022, Russia staged illegal referenda in parts of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts, annexed them, and declared them part of its sovereign territory. The EU, the US and their allies and partners, as well as most UN members, have not recognised these illegal referenda.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Ukraine violates right of ethnic Russians to self-determination, that In 2014, Crimea overwhelmingly voted to re=join Russia, and that Crimea voted to secede after the coup in Kyiv.