Kyrylo Budanov said Vladimir Putin had been forced into a regular and strategic reconsideration after failing to occupy Kyiv and oust Volodymyr Zelensky. “There is reason to believe that he can try to impose a dividing line between the occupied and non-occupied areas of our country,” Mr Budanov said. “In fact, it will be an attempt to settle South and North Korea in Ukraine. “The invaders will try to create a quasi-state as an alternative to an independent Ukraine. “We can see efforts to create ‘parallel’ local governments in the occupied territories and to force people to abandon the Ukrainian currency.” The rumored division strategy will intensify fears of a new Cold War, echoing what happened on the Korean Peninsula in the early 1950s. The country was divided in 1953 after three years of fighting between Chinese-backed communist forces and South Korean troops backed by the United Kingdom and the United States. Mr Budanov’s comments came after a local leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic said Sunday that the region could soon hold a referendum on joining Russia. “I think that in the near future there will be a referendum in the territory of democracy, in which the people will exercise their absolute constitutional right and express their views on joining the Russian Federation,” said Leonid Passenik. A similar referendum was held in Crimea in which voters overwhelmingly supported unification with Russia after the invasion of the peninsula. The West refused to recognize the results of the referendum. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry rejected the idea of a referendum in Lugansk, saying the “fake votes” had no basis in international law. “All fake referendums on the temporarily occupied territories are invalid and will have no legal force,” ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko told Reuters. However, a Russian senator insisted that both separatist “states” had the right to join Moscow. Vladimir Putin justified the invasion of Ukraine by accusing Kyiv of plotting atrocities against the Luhansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic, which seceded from Ukraine after the 2014 war. Putin described the invasion as a “special military operation” aimed at denationalizing Ukraine. However, the invasion was stopped by the Ukrainian resistance not only to withstand the Russian invaders but also in many parts of the country to repel them. Russia has failed to seize a major Ukrainian city, prompting analysts to believe the Kremlin is moderating its ambitions. In this context, negotiators on both sides are set to resume talks in Turkey. Last week, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoλουlu expressed optimism, saying both sides were close to an agreement.
