After all, what do the leaders of the Russian Federation want? When Vladimir Putin declared the start of the “special military operation” in February 2022, he stated that he wanted to protect the people of Donbass, for which he would have to “demilitarize” and “denazify” Ukraine, but assured that there were no plans. to occupy Ukrainian territory. However, yesterday the same Putin welcomed the Russians for the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, which was made official a year ago after an electoral farce. And his number two on the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has threatened that the invasion will bring even more regions to Russia.
“The special military operation will continue until the complete destruction of the Nazi regime in Kiev,” said former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. “The victory will be ours. And there will be more new regions within Russia.” The message from the current vice president of the Russian Security Council is in line with the Kremlin’s communications strategy, with the leader taking a more moderate approach and Medvedev resorting to verbal combat.
In a message on the Kremlin’s website, Vladimir Putin had addressed the population hours earlier to mark and celebrate the anniversary of the annexations, on what is now known as the “day of reunification”, through a presidential decree. “A year ago, on September 30, a decisive and truly historic event took place, when agreements were signed to incorporate four new constituent entities into the Russian Federation,” he said, referring to Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson.
Still in the message, the Russian president claimed that the annexations were the result of the will of “millions of people” through a “conscious, long-awaited, hard-won and truly popular decision” through referendums “in full compliance with international standards . “. . Only North Korea and Syria recognized a vote without any legal basis.
‘They tried to intimidate them, to deprive them of the right to determine their own future and destiny, what is dear to every human being – culture, traditions, mother tongue – everything that is hated by nationalists and by their Western sponsors who carried out these actions. a coup in Kiev in 2014 and led to a civil war,” Putin said.
Moscow says it held elections in the four regions this month but is not fully controlling some of them as it tries to support the Ukrainian counter-offensive to win back these regions. This vote was condemned in the Portuguese parliament by all parliamentary groups, with the exception of the PCP, which abstained.
The European Union marked the date with the presence of the head of diplomacy in Odessa. Josep Borrell criticized the “illegal annexation, as happened with Crimea” and demanded the “immediate restoration of the integrity of Ukraine,” he said during a visit to the Transfiguration Cathedral, which was bombed by the Russians in July.
“My presence here shows our commitment to the country, at military, economic and diplomatic levels, to call for a just peace that preserves Ukraine’s independence,” the Catalan leader said.
Source: DN
