Vladimir Putin will formalize the annexation of four Ukrainian administrative regions
The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, planned to ratify, on Friday, in the middle of the day, the annexation by Russia of four Ukrainian administrative regions occupied totally or in part by its armed forces. Officials installed by Moscow in the oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson were already in the Russian capital on Thursday, according to local media.
The Kremlin is to host a ceremony for these annexations at 3 p.m. local time (2 p.m. in Paris), during which Mr. Putin must pronounce “a long speech”according to his spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
The Russian capital prepared for festivities, with restricted traffic on Friday, including a concert in the shadow of the Kremlin walls, at which Mr Putin could make an appearance. As a prelude to this formalization, Mr. Putin signed several decrees recognizing the independence of the Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhia and Kherson.
“I order to recognize state sovereignty and independence” of these two regions of southern Ukraine, he said in these texts published Thursday evening.
Russia recognized the independence of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the “Luhansk People’s Republic” in February, at the request of their pro-Russian separatist leaders, shortly before the start of its offensive in Ukraine, launched on February 24 .
These four regions will be officially annexed by Russia, after “referendums” organized from September 23 to 27 on their attachment to Russia. Consultations carried out under the supervision of armed men, described as “parody” and of “simulacra” by kyiv and its Western backers. Russia already annexed Crimea, a peninsula in southern Ukraine, in 2014.
kyiv’s military successes in early September forced Mr. Putin to hastily organize these “referendums” of annexation and to mobilize hundreds of thousands of Russians into the army. This last measure led crowds to an exodus from Russia.