Putin's "Deal" On Ukraine

Following the stunning announcement that Russian asset and mentally unfit demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump will meet his handler, murderous Russian thug Vladimir Putin, in Washington, D.C. this fall, word has leaked out that Rump is considering a proposal by Putin to hold a bogus "referendum" in eastern Ukraine's Russian-occupied Donbas region to determine whether it formally joins Russia or stays with Ukraine. According to the report:

"Vladimir Putin told Russian diplomats that he made a proposal to Donald Trump at their summit this week to hold a referendum to help resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but agreed not to disclose the plan publicly so the U.S. president could consider it, according to two people who attended Putin’s closed-door speech on Thursday." (our emphasis)

Virtually nothing of substance is known about Rump's private meeting with Putin last Monday in Helsinki, save for leaks from the Russian regime. In addition to not being informed about the fall meeting, Rump's Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said yesterday that he had not been briefed on the two-hour discussion in Helsinki.

A "referendum" in Russia's backyard, where it has thousands of troops and paramilitary forces, would be a farce and while a compromised ignoramus like Rump might "mull" the possibility, it's clear Ukraine and our European allies would see a rigged election as an unforgivable capitulation to the Russian thug. The article continues:

"While Putin portrayed the Ukraine offer as a sign he’s seeking to bring the four-year-old crisis to an end, a referendum is likely to be a hard sell with Ukraine and its backers in Europe, who remain committed to a 2015 European-brokered truce deal for the Donbas region, parts of which are controlled by Russian-backed separatists. [snip] At his press conference with Trump after Monday’s summit in Helsinki, Putin pointed to a 2014 referendum, which wasn’t internationally recognized, to justify Russia’s annexation of Crimea. 'We believe that we held a referendum in strict compliance with international law,' he said. 'This case is closed for Russia.'”  (our emphasis)

Leading up to World War II, there were rigged "votes" in European nations that the Nazis claimed in justifying their annexation of territory. Putin's pushing the same tactic, and Rump is too deranged and ignorant to see it.