In early February, the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots will discuss the draft appeal of the lower house submitted by the Communist Party faction to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the recognition of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. This was announced on Thursday by the head of the committee, Leonid Kalashnikov.

“The committee has proposed to all the factions to give their views on this so that we can further accept the committee’s conclusion, and the legal aid department should give its conclusion to this [draft appeal]. After that, we will discuss [the document] at a committee meeting and submit it to the Duma Council. It will be in early February,” Kalashnikov told reporters.

In turn, the head of the international committee of the State Duma, Leonid Slutsky, said that experts are also participating in the discussion of the appeal to the president on the recognition of the LPR and DPR. “But as a topic of paramount importance, in no case should it be forced,” Slutsky stressed.