Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin completed the illegal annexation of the occupied parts of the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Donetsk by signing the relevant decrees. He signed the “laws on the integration of regions into Russian territory” previously passed by the State Duma and the Federation Council and thus put them into effect, as the Kremlin announced on Wednesday.
However, Moscow currently only controls parts of these areas in southern and eastern Ukraine. Recently, Ukraine has repeatedly reported land gains. According to his own statements, the Ukrainian army only snatched other cities in southern Ukraine from Russian troops on Wednesday. Despite military setbacks in the four regions, Putin is confident. The situation should soon stabilize, he said on Russian television.
“Forever in Russia”
“They will always belong to Russia,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agency TASS on Wednesday. Some areas still need to be taken, Peskow said, with a view to the neighboring country’s counteroffensive. “Let’s consult the population that wants to live with Russia.” On the size of the annexed areas, Peskov said that the current issue is the borders in force at the time the regions were admitted to the Russian Federation.
Initially, the regions will be headed by officials appointed by Moscow, as the regional parliaments will not be elected until September next year. As can be seen from the decrees signed by Putin, former separatist leader Denis Pushilin will be installed as head of regional government in the Donetsk region and local separatist leader Leonid Passechnik in Luhansk. Evgeny Balizki, the previous governor, will be responsible for the Zaporizhia region. Vladimir Saldo becomes the head of the Kherson region. He was previously team leader.
On Friday, Putin signed the internationally unrecognized accession treaties with the occupiers seconded by Moscow. Along with the Crimean peninsula on the Black Sea, which was annexed in 2014, Russia now controls more than 16% of Ukraine’s territory seven months after the start of its war of aggression.
Meanwhile, EU countries have launched an eighth package of sanctions against Russia. On Wednesday, the permanent representatives of member states approved, among other things, legal requirements for a price cap on oil imports from Russia backed by the G7 countries. The agreement still needs to be confirmed by the capitals in the written procedure. This must be done by Thursday morning.