Russia to ‘consult’ with locals on borders of annexed Ukraine regions: Kremlin
“We are going to continue to consult populations of these regions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, as he referred to the captured Ukrainian territories.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will hold consultations with the locals of the two annexed regions in Ukraine about the demarcation of the exact borders, Kremlin said in a statement on Monday.
This came as the Russian Duma’s upper house, Russia’s Federation Council, prepared to formalize the annexations that the West labelled as “sham” and “illegal.” The document is expected to be signed by President Putin which would stamp the captured territories as Russian Federation. Although, the borders of the regions to be incorporated into Russia are yet to be decided.
“We are going to continue to consult the populations of these regions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, as he referred to the captured Ukrainian territories in southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. “No doubt, any configuration will depend only on the will of the people who live in a particular territory,” he added.
Putin signs ‘accession treaties’ to formalised annexation
Last week, Russia’s president signed the so-called “accession treaties” that formalised the annexation of four occupied regions of Ukraine—Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk—into the Russian Federation in one of the largest land takeovers since WWII. Kremlin did not specify whether it will also annex the areas in these regions that its forces didn’t control yet, and that was still under the partial control of Ukraine’s military.
In all, Russia is annexing approximately 40,000 square miles of eastern and southern Ukraine, which constitutes about 15% of Ukraine. “The people have made their choice,” Putin said at the conference in Moscow’s Red Square. “An unequivocal choice … This is the will of millions of people,” he added.
The citizens in the four annexed regions of Ukraine said Putin, “will be now our citizens forever.” He also vowed to “do everything” to “raise the level of security” in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk, insisting that the people have chosen to rejoin their “historic motherland
“The people have made their choice. Their decisive decision. Undoubtedly, it is their unalienable right, which is enshrined in Article 1 of the UN Charter – “the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples,” Putin said.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken strongly derided Russia’s President Putin-backed referendum in Ukraine’s four territories, calling it an attempted “land grab” that is illegal and in violation of international law. “The Kremlin’s sham referenda are a futile effort to mask what amounts to a further attempt at a land grab in Ukraine,” Blinken said in a statement. “To be clear: the results were orchestrated in Moscow and do not reflect the will of the people of Ukraine,” he added.
