Luhansk People's Republic |
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Territory claimed on 12 May 2014 (in light green) and currently occupied (dark green) by the Luhansk People's Republic
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Status | Reintegration into Ukraine in exchange for self-governing status within Ukraine by the end of 2015 did not materialise. | ||||
Capital | Luhansk | ||||
Official languages |
Russian Ukrainian |
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Government | |||||
• Head
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Igor Plotnitsky | ||||
• Prime Minister
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Sergey Kozlov | ||||
Legislature | People's Council | ||||
Independence from Ukraine | |||||
• Established
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27 April 2014 | ||||
• Declaration of Independence
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12 May 2014 | ||||
• Signing of Minsk II agreement
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11 February 2015 | ||||
Currency | Russian ruble (most common); Ukrainian hryvnia (less common); Euro, U.S. dollar (legal but rarely used) | ||||
Time zone | Moscow Time (UTC+3) |
The Luhansk People's Republic (LPR or LNR), also known as Lugansk People's Republic (Russian: Луга́нская Наро́дная Респу́блика, tr. Luganskaya Narodnaya Respublika, LNR; IPA: [lʊˈɡanskəjə nɐˈrodnəjə rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə]; Ukrainian: Луганська Народна Республіка, Luhanska Narodna Respublika), is a self-proclaimed state in eastern Ukraine, bordering the Russian Federation, the (also self-proclaimed) Donetsk People's Republic, and Ukraine itself. Along with the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and the Republic of Crimea, the Luhansk People's Republic is one of what the Ukrainian government calls the "temporarily occupied territories".
Following the Euromaidan protest movement and the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych in the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, local Anti-Maidan and pro-Russian protests intensified, culminating in the proclamation of the Luhansk People's Republic on 27 April 2014. The authorities of the Republic later held a referendum on 11 May to seek legitimacy for the proclamation, and subsequently declared independence on 12 May 2014. On 24 May 2014, the self-proclaimed government agreed to a merger with the Donetsk People's Republic into an unrecognized confederation known as Novorossiya (thereby making a reference to the corresponding historical region and its name). The Republic is recognised only by South Ossetia, which itself only has limited international recognition. On 20 May 2015 the leadership of the Federal State of Novorossiya announced the termination of the confederation 'project'.