Pro-Russian rally draws 5,000 people in Ukraine’s Kharkiv

The police put its turnout at some 5,000 people.

Policemen did not interfere, although the action organizers had not officially informed Kharkiv City Administration of their plans to hold such a rally.

Up to 2,000 people joined a march toward the Russian Consulate General in Kharkiv. They were chanting pro-Russian slogans and holding banners reading “Referendum!” and “Russia! SOS!”

The demonstrators who gathered on Freedom Square demanded a referendum on Ukraine’s federalization, protested against the recent appointment of the Kharkiv region governor and the country’s further integration with the European Union and NATO, and called for its accession to the Customs Union, formed by Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan.