The White House has rejected a Vladimir Putin-backed effort to hold a referendum in eastern Ukraine on the region’s future, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.

Russia’s ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump had discussed the possibility of a referendum in separatist-leaning eastern Ukraine during their Helsinki summit.

But Trump’s National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said Friday that agreements between Russia and the Ukrainian government for resolving the conflict in the Donbas region do not include any such option and any effort to organize a “so-called referendum” would have “no legitimacy.”

Source: Agencies