The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, congratulated Russians this Saturday on the anniversary of the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, an event that he described as “historic and important” for the country.
“A year ago, on September 30, a decisive, truly historic and important event took place: agreements were signed on the admission to Russia of four new subjects of the federation,” Putin said in a video message posted on the website of the Kremlin.
Putin stressed that “millions of inhabitants of Donbass (Donetsk and Luhansk) and the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions chose to remain close to their homeland.”
“They tried to intimidate them, take away their right to determine their own future, their destiny, take away what is dear to each person – culture, traditions, mother tongue – everything that the nationalists and their Western sponsors who organized a coup d’état in Kiev in 2014 and triggered a civil war,” he said.
For the Russian president, “nothing and no one can break the will of millions of people, their faith in truth and historical justice.”
“Defending our compatriots in Donbass and Novorossiya, we defend Russia itself, we fight together for the homeland, for our sovereignty, spiritual values and unity, for victory,” he stressed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed September 30 as Reunification Day, on which Moscow commemorates the annexation of the four invaded Ukrainian regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.
The choice of the date has to do with the day Putin signed the annexation agreements for the four regions, September 30, 2022, just over seven months after ordering the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia had already annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.
kyiv and the majority of the international community demand that Moscow respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity based on the 1991 borders, when the former Soviet republic became independent.
Russia has responded to such demands by saying that kyiv must accept the new reality.
Donbass designates the region encompassing Donetsk and Luhansk, where a separatist war began in 2014, with support from Moscow.
Putin recognized the self-proclaimed republics of Donbas hours before the invasion of Ukraine, on February 24, 2022.
Novorossiya, or New Russia, is a historical designation for the territories conquered by the Russian Empire in the 18th century, including regions of present-day Ukraine.
Source: TSF
