Luhansk People’s Republic

The Luhansk or Lugansk People's Republic (russian: Луга́нская Наро́дная Респу́блика, Luganskaya Narodnaya Respublika, ; abbreviated as LPR or LNR, rus, ЛНР) is a disputed entity created by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, which claims Luhansk Oblast. It began as a breakaway state (2014–2022) and was then annexed by Russia in 2022. The city of Luhansk is the claimed capital city.

Pro-Russian unrest erupted in the Donbas region in response to the Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity. In April 2014, armed pro-Russian separatists seized government buildings and declared the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) as independent states, which received no international recognition prior to 2022. Ukraine and others viewed them as Russian puppet states and as terrorist organisations. This sparked the War in Donbas, part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War which also saw the Russian occupation and annexation of Crimea. The Luhansk and Donetsk People's Militias occupied almost half of the two oblasts and were at war with the Ukrainian military for the next eight years.

On 21 February 2022, Russia recognised the LPR and DPR as sovereign states. Three days later, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, partially under the pretext of protecting the republics. Russian forces captured more of Luhansk Oblast (almost the entirety of it), which became part of the LPR. In September 2022, Russia announced the annexation of the LPR and other occupied territories, following disputed referendums which were illegal under international law. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling on countries not to recognise what it called the "attempted illegal annexation" and demanded that Russia "immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw".

The Head of the Luhansk People's Republic is Leonid Pasechnik, and its parliament is the People's Council.

Geography and demographics

The 2014 constitution of the Luhansk People's Republic (art. 54.1) defined the territory of the republic as "determined by the borders existing on the day of establishment", without describing the borders. From February 2015 up until February 2022, the LPR's ''de facto'' borders were the Russo–Ukrainian border (south and east), the border between Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast and Donetsk Oblast (west), and the line of contact with Ukrainian troops (north) as defined in the Minsk agreements between Ukraine, Russia, and the OSCE. When the Russian president announced recognition of the republics' independence on February 22, 2022, he said "we recognized all their fundamental documents, including the constitution. And the constitution spells out the borders within the Donetsk and Luhansk regions at the time when they were part of Ukraine".

Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast and the LPR-controlled area from April 2014 to February 2022 are both landlocked.

The highest point in left-bank Ukraine is Mohyla Mechetna hill ( above sea level), which is located in the vicinity of the city of Petrovske, in LPR-controlled territory.

In December 2017, approximately 1.4 million lived in the LPR's territory, with 435,000 in the city of Luhansk. Leaked documents suggest that less than three million people, less than half of the pre-war population, remained in the separatist territories that Moscow controlled in eastern Ukraine in early February 2022, and 38% of those remaining were pensioners.Roth, Andrew (18 February 2022).
What is the background to the separatist attack in east Ukraine?
. ''The Guardian''.

On 18 February 2022, the LPR and DPR separatist authorities ordered a general evacuation of women and children to Russia, and the next day a full mobilization of males "able to hold a weapon in their hands".

History

Luhansk and Donetsk People's republics are located in the historical region of Donbas, which was added to Ukraine in 1922. The majority of the population speaks Russian as their first language. Attempts by various Ukrainian governments to question the legitimacy of the Russian culture in Ukraine had since the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine often resulted in political conflict. In the Ukrainian national elections, a remarkably stable pattern had developed, where Donbas and the Western Ukrainian regions had voted for the opposite candidates since the presidential election in 1994. Viktor Yanukovych, a Donetsk native, had been elected as a president of Ukraine in 2010. His overthrow in the 2014 Ukrainian revolution led to protests in Eastern Ukraine, which gradually escalated into an armed conflict between the newly formed Ukrainian government and the local armed militias.Petro, Nicolai N., Understanding the Other Ukraine: Identity and Allegiance in Russophone Ukraine (1 March 2015). Richard Sakwa and Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska, eds., Ukraine and Russia: People, Politics, Propaganda and Perspectives, Bristol, United Kingdom: E-International Relations Edited Collections, 2015, pp. 19–35. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2574762

Formation (2014–2015)

Occupation of government buildings

On 5 March 2014, 12 days after the protesters in Kyiv seized the president's office (at the time Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych had already fled Ukraine), a crowd of people in front of the Luhansk Oblast State Administration building proclaimed Aleksandr Kharitonov as "People's Governor" in Luhansk region. On 9 March 2014 Luganskaya Gvardiya of Kharitonov stormed the government building in Luhansk and forced the newly appointed Governor of Luhansk Oblast, Mykhailo Bolotskykh, to sign a letter of resignation.

One thousand pro-Russian activists seized and occupied the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) building in the city of Luhansk on 6 April 2014, following similar occupations in Donetsk and Kharkiv