The current Ukrainian authorities need to hold a referendum if they want to take part in the settlement, including on territorial issues, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters, adding that to do this, it is necessary to end martial law, APA reports citing TASS.
"What should the current authorities do if they want to be legitimate and fully participate in the settlement process? They should first of all hold a referendum in accordance with the constitution of Ukraine. Issues related to territory are resolved only by referendum, as far as I remember. However, a referendum cannot be held under martial law, this is also a constitutional provision. So, in order to hold a referendum, it is necessary to lift martial law, but as soon as this is done, elections must follow — a process that could drag on indefinitely," Putin said.
But whatever the result of the elections, it is necessary to obtain a corresponding conclusion from the Constitutional Court of Ukraine afterward, this is exactly how it is written in the basic law of the country, he stressed.
"And how can one obtain a conclusion from the Constitutional Court if, after the [Ukrainian] authorities demanded that this Constitutional Court of Ukraine confirm the mandate of the president's powers, the latter actually refused to do so? Do you know what they did in Ukraine? It's funny, but true. The security simply stopped letting the chairman of the Constitutional Court into his office. That's all. The movie ended there, but not quite, because as far as I know, I don’t know where he is now, he went abroad for a while," Putin said.
