page_title: Donetsk People's Republic
section_title: Foundations
hierarchical_section_title: Donetsk People's Republic / History / Foundations
caption_attribution_description: English: Sloviansk city council under control of armed forces. The masked men are holding Kalashnikov assault rifles (AK-74) and having rocket launchers on their backs (very similar to Soviet/Russian RPG-26).
context_page_description: The Donetsk People's Republic is a self-proclaimed state in the eastern Ukrainian Oblast of Donetsk. The proto-state is recognised only by the partially recognised South Ossetia and Russian-backed proto-state Luhansk People's Republic. The capital city and largest city within the DPR is Donetsk. The current head of state is Denis Pushilin.
  The DPR declared its Independence after the 2014 coup in Ukraine, alongside the LPR and the Republic of Crimea. An ongoing armed conflict between Ukraine and the DPR and LPR followed their declarations of independence. The LPR and DPR receive assistance from Russia. According to NATO and Ukraine, Russia had also provided military aid to the rebels, a claim that Russia denies. Ukraine claims that both the DPR and LPR are terrorist organizations, although this designation is not supported by the Supreme Court of Ukraine or by international governments including the EU, US, or Russia.
  The February 2015 Minsk agreement signed by the DPR, LDR and Ukraine was meant to stop the conflict and reintegrate rebel held territory into Ukraine in exchange for more autonomy for the area, but the agreement was never fully implemented.
context_section_description: On Sunday, 6 April 2014, between 1,000 and 2,000 pro-Russian rebels attended a rally in Donetsk pushing for a Crimea-style referendum on independence from Ukraine and it was claimed by Ukrainian media that the proposed referendum has no status-quo option. After which, 200 separatists (according to Igor Dyomin, a spokesman for Donetsk local police, about 1,000) stormed and took control of the first two floors of the building, breaking down doors and smashing windows. The administration headquarters were empty, with only guards inside, as government officials do not work there on Sundays. The separatists demanded that if an extraordinary session was not held by officials, announcing a referendum to join Russia, they would declare unilateral control by forming a "People's Mandate" at noon on 7 April, and dismiss all elected council members and MPs. When the session was not held they held a vote within the RSA and were not elected to the positions they assumed. According to the Russian ITAR-TASS the declaration was voted by some regional legislators; however, there are claims that neither the Donetsk city council nor district councils of the city delegated any representatives to the session.
  The political leadership initially consisted of Denis Pushilin, self-appointed as chairman of the government, while Igor Kakidzyanov was named as the commander of the "People's Army". Vyacheslav Ponomarev became known as the self-proclaimed mayor of the city of Sloviansk. Ukrainian-born pro-Russian activist Pavel Gubarev, an Anti-Maidan activist, a former member of the neo-Nazi Russian National Unity paramilitary group in 1999-2001 and former member of the left-wing populist Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, proclaimed himself the "People's Governor" of the Donetsk Region. He was arrested on charges of separatism and illegal seizure of power but released in a hostage swap. Alexander Borodai, a Russian citizen claiming to be involved in the Russian annexation of Crimea, was appointed as Prime Minister. On 6 April, the group's leaders announced that a referendum, on whether Donetsk Oblast should "join the Russian Federation", would take place "no later than May 11th, 2014." Additionally, the group's leaders appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to send Russian peacekeeping forces to the region.
  On the morning of 8 April, the 'Patriotic Forces of Donbass', a pro-Kiev group that was formed on 15 March earlier that year by 13 pro-Kyiv NGOs, political parties and individuals, unrelated to Donetsk Republic organisation who proclaimed independence and seized the council, issued a statement on its Facebook page, "cancelling" the other group's declaration of independence, citing complaints from locals, a move that was generally interpreted by Ukrainian media as coming from the pro-Russian party. Their announcement stated that they would quash the potential state's establishment, cancel the referendum, and, on their part, stated that the declaration is illegal and some rebels reportedly gave up weapons as well. Despite this, the Donetsk Republic organisation continued to occupy the RSA and declared themselves the legitimate authority, and upheld all previous calls for a referendum and the release of their leader Pavel Gubarev. In the afternoon of 8 April, about a thousand people rallied in front of the RSA listening to speeches about the Donetsk People's Republic and to Soviet and Russian music.
  According to an article from the Kyiv Post on 10 April, most of the protesters were aged 50 or older, while inside the RSA building, many of the occupiers are younger but from other cities like Mariupol, Kherson and Mykolaiv. The occupiers included both men and women. According to "Novosti Donbassa", unstated number of Russian citizens, including one leader of a far-right militant group, had also taken part in the events. The OSCE reported that all the main institutions of the city observed by the Monitoring Team seemed to be working normally as of 16 April. On 22 April, separatists agreed to release the session hall of the building along with 
caption: Sloviansk city council under control of heavily armed men on 14 April 2014
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