The leaders of the world are almost all in agreement in denouncing the results of referendums which are above all a masquerade. But the Russian president still signed Friday during a ceremony in the Kremlin the annexation of four regions of Ukraine that Moscow occupies totally or partially, calling on kyiv to “immediately cease hostilities”.
The leaders of the breakaway Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk (east) and Zaporizhia and Kherson (south) signed the annexation documents alongside Vladimir Putin in front of an audience of government officials, deputies and senators, and d other members of the Russian political elite.
“Our Citizens Forever”
In front of an assembly won over to the presidential cause, they then joined their hands before chanting “Russia! in unison with the room, according to images from Russian television. In his pre-annexation speech, Vladimir Putin called on kyiv to “immediately cease firing, all hostilities and return to the negotiating table”. “But the choice of residents of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson will not be discussed. It has been achieved and Russia will not betray it,” he warned.
Brushing aside Western criticism, Vladimir Putin added: “The people of Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhya become our citizens forever”. “People voted for our common future,” he assured after the organization of annexation “referendums” condemned by kyiv and its allies. “We will defend our land with all our strength and means,” said the Russian president, while Kremlin officials repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons to defend the new Ukrainian territories incorporated on Friday.