French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a telephone conversation with Russian and Ukrainian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko, said the declaration about creating so-called Malorossiya [made by self-proclaimed leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Alexander Zakharchenko last week] is “’unacceptable,” Poroshenko’s press service said summing up the results of the meeting.
“The French president and German chancellor said such declarations are inexcusable, as are actions against the territorial integrity of Ukraine, including the creation of Malorossiya,” Interfax reported.
Separatists in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday proclaimed a new state that aspires to include not only the areas they control but also the rest of the country. But Russia, their chief backer, sought to play down the announcement, saying it was merely part of public discussion.
Donetsk separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko said in comments broadcast on Russian television that rebels in Donetsk and Luhansk as well as representatives of other Ukrainian regions would form a state called Malorossiya.
Most of the areas which are currently part of Ukraine were referred to as Malorossiya, or Little Russia, when they were part of the Russian Empire.
Zakharchenko said they are drawing up a constitution that would be put up to a popular vote.
“We believe that the Ukrainian state as it was cannot be restored,” Zakharchenko said in remarks carried by the Tass news agency. “We, representatives of the regions of the former Ukraine, excluding Crimea, proclaim the creation of a new state which is a successor to Ukraine.”
