Russian Federation seeks capitulation of Ukrainian government and drafts "new constitution" - US at OSCE

Kyiv/28.04.22/UNIAN: US Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Ambassador Michael Carpenter said at the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on 28 April that the aim of the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine is to achieve the removal of democratically elected Ukrainian authorities and develop a "new constitution" with a ban on all pro-Ukrainian forces holding leadership positions in Ukraine.  

Carpenter said this in a statement on the website of the US mission to the OSCE, delivered at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna.

"We have information that Russia's plans over its further invasion include the forced surrender of Ukraine's democratically elected government, including the dissolution of all local governments in Ukraine," Carpenter stressed.

He said that "[new] governance structures" must be established in the occupied Ukrainian territories, which are under Russian control.  

"Plans for a new government and a new constitution are being drawn up by Russian officials and the so-called 'separatists'. These plans include a moratorium on banning legitimate Ukrainian leaders and those who support Ukraine's legitimate government from holding any leadership positions," Carpenter says. 

The US diplomat says that such actions are known from Russia's methodology which has repeatedly used fake "electoral" processes along with attempts to apply the so-called "new realities", including holding pseudo-referendums to give the appearance of legitimacy to enslavement. In particular, the similar so-called referendum has previously been held in Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts with simulated high levels of public support. -0-