Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized on Thursday the independence of the Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine, a step before the annexation of these territories by Russia.
In a statement, the Kremlin said that Putin signed the decree based on recent referendums in which the majority of voters supported Ukraine’s separation and accession to the Russian Federation.
To recognize the independence of Kherson and Zaporizhia, Vladimir Putin defends the right of peoples to self-determination and the statutes of the United Nations.
These separatist consultations, held between September 23 and 27, have been condemned by kyiv and the West, who consider the referendums as “democratic farces”.
In the case of Kherson, a region that borders the annexed Crimean peninsula, more than 87% of voters supported Russian annexation, while more than 93% of the participants in Zaporizhia supported this option, according to pro-Russian sources.
Both territories were conquered by Russian troops in the first weeks of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine, which allowed Moscow to open a land corridor between Donbass and Crimea.
The peninsula bordering the Black Sea depends for its survival on the water, energy and grain resources of southern Ukraine.
The self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, whose independence was recognized by Putin last February, also held referendums considered illegal by the West, in which they supported joining Russia.
The leaders of these four regions approached the Kremlin leader this week to ask Putin to authorize their urgent entry into the Russian Federation.
As announced by the Russian presidency, Vladimir Putin will formalize this Friday, during a solemn ceremony in the Kremlin, the annexation of the four Ukrainian territories with the signing of the corresponding treaties.
Next week, both houses of the Russian Parliament will approve this accession, after which Putin will enact it, as happened in 2014 with the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.
In Crimea, a referendum considered illegal by the West was also organized eight years ago, after which its independence was proclaimed and then the territory annexed by Russia.
Ukraine insists that both referendums and annexations are illegal, while the West has also announced that it will adopt new sanctions against the Kremlin.
The Secretary General of the United Nations Organization (UN), António Guterres, warned Russia on Thursday that the annexation of Ukrainian territories “will have no legal value and deserves to be condemned”, stressing that “it cannot be reconciled with the international legal”. “. “.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, assured that the European Union (EU) will continue to support Ukraine “politically, economically and militarily” in Vladimir Putin’s “atrocious war”, which seeks to “reverse the course of history”. “On the road to democracy.
The European Commission proposed this Wednesday an eighth package of sanctions against Russia, in the face of the “new escalation” of the Kremlin in its aggression against Ukraine, with the celebration of “fraudulent referendums”, partial mobilizations and the threat of resorting to nuclear weapons.
US President Joe Biden assured Thursday that the United States will never recognize the results of the “Russian-orchestrated” referendums in Ukraine and accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of “flagrant violation” of the United Nations Charter.
Source: TSF
