Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday justified the holding of annexation referendums organized by Moscow in four regions of Ukraine with the aim of “saving the Russian-speaking population” of these territories.
“The rescue of people in all these territories where the referendum is being held (…) is at the center of attention of our society and the entire country,” Putin said in a meeting with members of the government, quoted by the Agency French AFP news agency.
Putin’s statement coincides with the last day of voting in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, in Donbass (east) and in Kherson and Zaporizhia (south), which began on Friday the 23rd.
Ukraine and the Western allies do not recognize the validity of the referendums, which they denounce as a farce.
In 2014, Russia used the result of a referendum, which also took place under military occupation, to legitimize the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
Kremlin (Presidency) spokesman Dmitri Peskov said today that the situation in the four regions will change after the announcement of the referendum results.
“It will change radically, of course, from the legal point of view, from the point of view of international law, with all the corresponding consequences for the security guarantees in these territories,” Peskov said, quoted by the Spanish agency EFE.
“Our legal system will consider all options and of course our parliamentarians, our executive bodies and our legal teams are ready,” he added.
For the first time since Friday, when the consultation began, the vote was held today at the polling stations, since in the previous four days it had been held in makeshift places or at people’s homes, a procedure that was justified in order to ensure the safety of voters.
In the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, 450 and 461 polling stations were opened, respectively.
The pro-Russian authorities of the Zaporizhia region, controlled by more than 70% by the Russian army, announced the opening of 349 polling stations.
In the Kherson region, which is more than 90% occupied, the authorities announced the creation of 198 electoral commissions.
The referendums were declared valid by their organizers, who claimed a turnout of over 50%.
A Russian parliamentary source quoted by the official TASS agency said that it is most likely that the annexation of these territories to Russia will be formalized on Friday, September 30, the day that Putin will be able to address the country.
The European Union (EU) announced on Tuesday that it will impose sanctions on all those involved in the organization of the annexation referendums, which it considered illegal.
“There will be consequences for all those who participated in the organization of these illegal referendums and supported them,” said a spokesman for EU diplomacy in Brussels.
Source: TSF
