Russian President Vladimir Putin signed this Friday the accession to Russia of four Ukrainian regions occupied by his Army and affirmed that their inhabitants will be our citizens forever. Meanwhile, Ukraine, the United States and the G7 rejected and condemned the annexation.
Separatist leaders from the four Ukrainian territories participated in the signing ceremony, which took place in the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace, Denis Pushilin (Donetsk), Leonid Pásechnik (Lugansk), Vladimir Saldo (Jerson) and Yevguen Balitsky (Zaporiyia), respectively. After the signing, the hundreds of guests applauded, while the Russian president shook hands with the four pro-Russian leaders and the Russian anthem was played.
After the last note, Putin, Pushilin, Paséchnik, Saldo and Baliski joined hands and formed a semicircle to shout for Russia. Those invited to the event, among whom were the presidents of the State Duma or Lower House, Viacheslav Volodinand the Senate, Valentina Matviyenkothe members of the Russian Government, deputies, senators, religious leaders and governors, stood up and joined the cry of the separatist leaders.
The signing of the annexation of these eastern and southern regions of Ukraine came after Putin delivered a 38-minute speech in which defended the election, which he called unequivocal, of the citizens of the four provinces. In addition, he called on Ukraine to immediately cease fire and promised that it will defend Russian territory by all means.
“We call on the kyiv regime to immediately cease fire, put an end to military actions, to the war that it unleashed in 2014 and return to the negotiating table”, Putin said in his speech. At the same time, he stressed that he would not debate the annexation of Donetsk, Lugansk, Jershon and Zaporiyia. “We will not betray them,” he stated.
Russian citizens forever
Putin was stressed that the annexation is irreversible, despite the denunciations of Ukraine and its allies. “The USSR no longer exists and the past will not return. And Russia does not need it, but there is nothing stronger than the determination of this people to return to their true historical homeland,” the president stressed.
“I want to say this to the kyiv regime and its masters in the West: the inhabitants of Lugansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia become our citizens forever”Putin exclaimed to applause in a room reserved for big occasions and decorated with a red carpet, Russian flags and four ensigns of the separatist territories.Putin insisted that Russia act in accordance with the UN Charterwhich defends the right to self-determination of peoples.
For its part, the four separatist leaders later celebrated the historic event and homecoming in a grand event on Red Square. “On behalf of all the inhabitants of the Donetsk People’s Republic, I express my deep gratitude to the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, for every step, for every decision, which has been the basis for the restoration of historical truth,” he wrote. the Donetsk leader on his Telegram channel.
The second annexation
Is about the second annexation that Russia consumes in more than eight years after the one executed in March 2014 with the Crimean peninsula, which passed with the same express procedure and with the support of 97 percent of citizens. With the annexation, Russia absorbs 15 percent of Ukraine’s territory and expands its population from 147 million to more than 150 million.
From now on the Russian president will be able to claim that Ukraine is attacking Russian territory in the east and south of Ukraine. The step taken by Putin, which will be ratified next week by the Lower House and the Senate, represents a new escalation in the military campaign and in his confrontation with the West, which does not recognize the annexation and will impose new sanctions on Russia.
Rejection of Ukraine and its allies
From President Volodymyr Zelenski announced this Friday that Ukraine was going to sign an application for accelerated accession to NATO and that he will not negotiate with Russia while Vladimir Putin is in power. “Ukraine will not negotiate with Russia as long as Putin is the President of the Russian Federation. We will negotiate with the new president,” Zelensky said.
For its part, the State Department of The US also announced this Friday new sanctions against Russian government officials after the annexation of four Ukrainian territories signed today by the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin. The office detailed in a statement that hundreds of individuals, including members of the Russian and Belarusian military, will be subject to visa restrictions, while hundreds more will receive economic sanctions by the Treasury Department.
In a statement, the foreign ministers of the club of industrialized nations of the G7 condemned this Friday the annexation. “This implies that the evident disregard of international law by Russia hits rock bottom again,” according to the statement from the diplomatic officials of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, France, Italy and Germany. In addition, invited the international community to join in the condemnation and to reject Moscow’s brutal expansionism and its denial of Ukraine’s existence as an independent state.