In early September 2014, Lugansk received a command to stop using the flags of Russia. Defenders of Donbass began to use the flags of Novorossia, but then they almost came to naught, when they universally approved the official symbols of the DPR and LPR. However, plans to bring Donbass to Russia changed in May 2014, when the fighting around Slavyansk was in full swing. Then the politicians could not directly prohibit Slavyansk from using the Russian flag (although they were accused by Ukraine and the West of the fact that Russian mercenaries operate in Donbass). They just recommended Strelkov to use