Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, on Wednesday, said Russia’s mobilisation order is a sign of panic at the Kremlin, that should not be taken as a direct threat of full-out war with the West.
“The mobilisation, calling for referenda in the Donetsk, it is all a sign of panic.
“His rhetoric on nuclear weapons is something we have heard many times before, and it leaves us cold,” Rutte told Dutch broadcaster NOS.
“It is all part of the rhetoric we know. I would advise to remain calm,” he added.
Russian-backed separatists plan to hold referendums in the occupied areas of eastern Ukraine, a move that has triggered a chorus of condemnation from Western leaders.
The vote will pave the way for the formal annexation of swaths of territory by Russia after nearly seven months of the war with its neighbour, a former Soviet republic.
The self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), which President Vladimir Putin recognised as independent states just before the invasion on February 24, have said they want referendums on joining Russia from September 23 to 27 – that is from this Friday to Tuesday.
The Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, which are yet to be recognised as independent states by Russia, have also said they will hold their own votes.
Russia does not fully control any of the four regions, with only about 60 per cent of the Donetsk region in Russian hands.
Russia controls more than 90,000sq km (34,750sq miles) of territory, or about 15 per cent of Ukraine’s total area – roughly the size of Hungary or Portugal.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. With Crimea and the territory in the four other regions, Russia would gain an area about the same size as the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
