29-Mar-2024  Srinagar booked.net

World

After Referendum, Russia Annexes Four Ukrainian Regions

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Photo Credit| Reuters


Russian President Vladimir Putin declared four Ukrainian regions as Russians on Friday by signing the decrees declaring the “independence” of the partially occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia to be incorporated into Russian-held Donetsk and Luhansk at a lavish ceremony in the Kremlin, Russia after hastily-organized referendums in the Russian-occupied regions this week-launched on last Friday, which claimed majorities of up to 99 percent in favor of joining Russia.

It is pertinent to mention that Putin recognized the ‘independence’ of Donetsk and Luhansk in February.

“I order the recognition of the state sovereignty and independence” of Zaporizhia and Kherson in southern Ukraine, Putin said in presidential decrees issued late on Thursday.

Separate agreements were set to be signed on Thursday with the two Russian-backed separatist leaders from the east and the two Russian-appointed officials from the south," Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

However, the United Nations, West, and Kyiv have called the referendums fake and self-styled and dismissed the votes as a sham, and pledged not to recognize their results.

"Any decision to proceed with the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia regions of Ukraine would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned,” Antonio Guterres told reporters.

“This has no place in the modern world,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has summoned his defense and security chiefs for an emergency meeting and promised a strong response to the annexations of the respective four regions.

The United States, Democratic and Republican lawmakers denounced the annexation plan and said they will continue the flow of money and weapons to Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

Moreover, Ukrainian officials claimed that people were banned from leaving some occupied areas until the four-day vote was over, “armed groups were going into homes, and employees were threatened with the sack if they did not participate.”   

Experts called the move a repetition of Russia’s Crimea annexation in 2014.

Earlier, Putin announced to mobilize hundreds of thousands of Russians to bolster his troops on the front lines.

Making Russians anxious, some reports say 2,400 protesters have been arrested in dozens of cities and there has been an exodus of Russian men streaming across the border.

Kazakhstan alone reported 98,000 arrivals by Tuesday, and there have been long queues on the border with Georgia. From Friday, Finland has announced it will significantly restrict Russians entering for tourism or onward travel to other EU countries.