Luhansk People's Republic

Luhansk People's Republic[a]
Луганская Народная Республика
Republic of Russia
(contested)
Flag of Luhansk People's Republic[a]
Flag
Coat of arms of Luhansk People's Republic[a]
Coat of arms
Anthem:
Государственный гимн Луганской Народной Республики
Gosudarstvenny gimn Luganskoy Narodnoy Respubliki
"State Anthem of the Lugansk People's Republic"
Territory of Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast controlled by Russia as LPR shown in red and pink; territory claimed but not controlled shown in yellow and blue[2]
Territory of Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast controlled by Russia as LPR shown in red and pink; territory claimed but not controlled shown in yellow and blue[2]
LPR in its borders claimed by Russia shown in red, along with other disputed territories hatched
LPR in its borders claimed by Russia shown in red, along with other disputed territories hatched
Coordinates: 48°55′N 39°01′E / 48.92°N 39.02°E / 48.92; 39.02
CountryRussia (partly controlled; internationally recognized as part of Ukraine)
Federal districtSouthern[1]
Established27 April 2014[3]
(as a breakaway state)
30 September 2022
(as a republic of Russia)
Administrative centreLuhansk
Government
 • BodyPeople's Council
 • HeadLeonid Pasechnik
 • Prime MinisterSergey Kozlov
Population
[4]
 • Total
2,102,921[b][citation needed]
Time zoneUTC+3 (MSK[5])
Vehicle registration81, 181[6]
OKTMO ID43000000
Official languageRussian[7]
Websitesovminlnr.ru

The Luhansk or Lugansk People's Republic[c] (LPR; Russian: Луга́нская Наро́дная Респу́блика (ЛНР), romanized: Luganskaya Narodnaya Respublika (LNR), IPA: [lʊˈɡanskəjə nɐˈrodnəjə rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə]) is a republic of Russia in the occupied parts of eastern Ukraine's Luhansk Oblast, with its capital in Luhansk.[8][9] The LPR was proclaimed by Russian-backed paramilitaries in 2014, and it initially operated as a breakaway state until it was annexed by Russia in 2022. The entire territory of LPR is viewed as sovereign territory of Ukraine by nearly all UN member states.

Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity in 2014, pro-Russian, counter-revolutionary unrest erupted in the eastern part of the country. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, while the armed separatists seized government buildings and proclaimed the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) as independent states. This sparked the war in Donbas, part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War. The LPR and DPR are often described as puppet states of Russia during this conflict.[10][11][12] They received no international recognition from United Nations member states before 2022.

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 all of it),[13] which became part of the LPR. In September 2022, Russia proclaimed the annexation of the LPR and other occupied territories, following illegitimate 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".[14]

The Head of the Luhansk People's Republic is Leonid Pasechnik. According to a report by the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), the ideology of the LPR is shaped by elements of right-wing Russian nationalism, Russian imperialism and Orthodox fundamentalism.[15] Organizations such as the UN Human Rights Office and Human Rights Watch have reported human rights abuses in the LPR, including internment, torture, extrajudicial killings, forced conscription, as well as political and media repression. Ukraine views the LPR and DPR as terrorist organisations.[16]

  1. ^ "Южный федеральный округ" (in Russian). 1 January 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Путин: Россия признала ДНР и ЛНР в границах Донецкой и Луганской областей". BBC Russia. 22 February 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Separatists Declare 'People's Republic' In Ukraine's Luhansk". RadioFreeEurope RadioLiberty. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Luhansk oblast". Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Новые субъекты РФ официально перейдут на московское время". Interfax.ru (in Russian). 27 January 2023. Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  6. ^ "МВД опубликовало коды автомобильных номеров для новых субъектов России" [The Ministry of Internal Affairs has published vehicle registration codes for the new regions of Russia.]. РБК (in Russian). 5 October 2022. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  7. ^ Official throughout the Russian Federation according to Article 68.1 of the Constitution of Russia.
  8. ^ Ledur, Júlia (21 November 2022). "What Russia has gained and lost so far in Ukraine, visualized". The Washington Post. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  9. ^ "Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, September 30". Institute for the Study of War. 30 September 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  10. ^ Johnson, Jamie; Parekh, Marcus; White, Josh; Vasilyeva, Nataliya (4 August 2022). "Officer who 'boasted' of killing civilians becomes Russia's first female commander to die". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  11. ^ Bershidsky, Leonid (13 November 2018). "Eastern Ukraine: Why Putin Encouraged Sham Elections in Donbass". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  12. ^ "Russian Analytical Digest No 214: The Armed Conflict in Eastern Ukraine". css.ethz.ch. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Russia-Ukraine war latest: two killed in attack on Zaporizhzhia as Russia launches mass strikes across Ukraine". the Guardian. 17 November 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
  14. ^ "Ukraine: UN General Assembly demands Russia reverse course on 'attempted illegal annexation'". 12 October 2022.
  15. ^ Likhachev, Vyacheslav (July 2016). "The Far Right in the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine" (PDF). Russie.NEI.Visions in English. pp. 25–26. Retrieved 1 March 2022. The ideas of Russian imperial (and, to some extent, ethnic) nationalism and Orthodox fundamentalism shaped the official ideology of the DNR and LNR. ... It can therefore be argued that the official ideology of the DNR and LNR, which developed under the influence of Russian far-right activists, is largely right-wing, conservative and xenophobic in character.
  16. ^ "Ukraine's prosecutor general classifies self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk republics as terrorist organizations". Kyiv Post. 16 May 2014. Archived from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.


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