Donetsk People's Republic
The Donetsk People’s Republic was a partially recognised country in the Donbas region of Ukraine. It is now a region in Russia.
Donetsk People's Republic Донецкая Народная Республика (Russian) | ||||||||||
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| 2014–2022 | ||||||||||
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| Status | Unrecognised puppet state of Russia | |||||||||
| Capital | Donetsk | |||||||||
| Government | ||||||||||
• Head of the Donetsk People's Republic | Denis Pushilin | |||||||||
• Prime minister | Vitaliy Khotsenko | |||||||||
| Establishment | ||||||||||
• Unrecognized independence from Ukraine | 12 may 2014 | |||||||||
• Annexation by Russia | 30 september 2022 | |||||||||
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When the War in Donbas started in 2014, a few hundred pro-Russian separatists declared that the Donetsk Oblast was an independent country.
Donetsk Oblast is all to the east of Ukraine, at the border with Russia. In both parts, there are many ethnic Russians. Russia aided the start of these non-recognised states.
History
In 2014, Russia invaded and took Crimea from Ukraine, while armed separatists captured government buildings in the Donetsk Oblast. They declared that the Donetsk Oblast was an independent country named the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). Approximately at the same time, other people started Luhansk People's Republic in Luhansk Oblast. This sparked the war in Donbas, part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War.
In early 2022, Russia officially recognised the DPR as a country. A few days later, Russia invaded Ukraine. In late 2022, the Donetsk People's Republic, alongside three other separatist oblasts, became a republic of Russia. However, the international community agrees that Donetsk legally belongs to Ukraine and that the annexation of Donetsk was illegal.
Politics
The Donetsk People's Republic led by the Head of the DPR and the Chairman of the Government. The Republic is ruled by the People's Council, which has 100 members. It is a dictatorship.
Society
The government completely changed the education system. They removed the Ukrainian curriculum and replaced it with the Russian one. They also decreased lessons teaching the Ukrainian language.
International relations
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The international community generally agrees that the Donetsk People's Republic belongs to Ukraine and that its independence was done illegally. In 2022, the only countries to recognise the DPR as an independent country were Russia, Syria and North Korea.
In late 2022, the DPR and three other separatist regions of Ukraine became republics of Russia. Many countries also agree that this was illegal.