Pro-Russia rebel vote to go ahead

The decision comes one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin urged delaying the vote to create the conditions necessary for dialogue.Ukrainian authorities said "anti-terror" operations would continue regardless of the rebels' decision.Millions of ballot papers have been prepared for the vote."The referendum will take place on 11 May. We are getting ready, ballot papers are being printed, everything remains in force. Nothing will change, it will not be delayed," Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted activists in the eastern region in Luhansk as saying.A pro-Russian activist leader in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, said the decision to press ahead with Sunday's plebiscite was unanimous, the Associated Press news agency reported.The suggestion to postpone the vote may have come "from a person who indeed cares for the people of the southeast," he said, "but we are the bullhorn of the people".Military operation continuesThe European Union warned of the dangers of pressing ahead with the vote."Such a vote could have no democratic legitimacy and would only further worsen the situation," a spokesperson for the EU foreign policy chief told reporters.The separatists' resolve to hold the referendum comes as a Pew Research Center poll released on Thursday shows that a strong majority of Ukrainians want their country to remain unified, even in the largely Russian-speaking east.Moscow has vowed to protect the rights of the largely Russian-speaking people in the south and east against what it calls an undemocratic government in Kiev.Relatives and friends of pro Russia gunmen killed in clashes with the Ukrainian army on Monday cry after the funeral of several pro Russia gunmen and a civilian in SlovianskBut in what appeared to be a shift in Russian policy, Mr Putin also said on Wednesday that this month's presidential elections in Ukraine were a move "in the right direction".His remarks came days after his spokesman said holding such an election would be absurd.Ukrainian interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniyuk dismissed Mr Putin's calls as "hot air".Ukrainian authorities have rejected activist demands for greater autonomy and troops have been battling to regain official buildings occupied by rebels in the east.On Thursday Ukraine's national security council confirmed that military operations would continue."The counterterrorist operation will go on regardless of any decisions by any subversive or terrorist groups in the Donetsk region," the council's secretary Andriy Parubiy said.The White House said the "illegitimate, illegal" plebiscite should be cancelled rather than postponed.The US and the European Union have imposed sanctions against several Russian individuals and businesses and threatened wider measures if Moscow interferes further in eastern Ukraine.Sunday's planned referendum was seen as a potential trigger for that.On Wednesday, President Putin also announced he was ordering Russian troops back from the Ukrainian border.But one day after Mr Putin's comments, Nato said there was still no sign of any Russian troop withdrawal.Unrest in the south and east of Ukraine has worsened since Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in March.That followed the ousting of Ukraine's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February by pro-Western protesters.(BBC)Bakudaily.az