The Russian president today signed the annexation of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia to the Russian Federation, at the annexation ceremony held today in Moscow in the presence of the main authorities of the country and the pro-Russian leaders of the four Ukrainian regions.
Euskaraz irakurri: Putinek Ukrainako okupatutako lurren anexioa aldarrikatu du: “Errusiar hiritarrak izango dira betiko”
The President of Russia, Vladimir Putinhas proclaimed this Friday the annexation to the Russian Federation of Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson Y Zaporizhia, which implies placing under its supposed sovereignty territories that have been occupied militarily. “They will be Russian citizens forever,” she said.
During a symbolic act in the Kremlin, and in the presence of the main authorities of the country and the pro-Russian leaders of the four Ukrainian regions, Putin has taken a new step in his sovereignist offensive against the neighboring country, ignoring the warnings of Western governments and the UN, who question the legal validity of this annexation.
Putin has argued that responds to the desire of “millions of citizens”who are within their “right” to ask to join Russia under the principle of self determination of the peoples that, as he has pointed out, is also contemplated by the United Nations itself.
The leaders of these four regions had formally asked the head of the Kremlin for the incorporation of these territories into Russia after annexation referendums described as “farce” by kyiv and practically the entire international community.
The president has gone back to the Soviet era and has appealed to tradition to defend that, outside of Russia, there are those who want to “return to their historical homeland.” “The people of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia will be Russian citizens forever,” he said, in a speech addressed to both kyiv and the West.
He has also remembered the “martyrs” who have lost their lives “victims of the kyiv regime”, including the Russian soldiers who have died since the beginning of the invasion in February, and has called on the Ukrainian authorities to accept a ceasefire and return to the negotiating table.
NATO and Western countries
The Russian president has advocated “protecting freedom” against those who seek “world sovereignty” and act with “double standards.” “The West talks about an international order based on rules, but where do these rules come from?” He raised to applause.
“They don’t see us as a free society,” but as “a multitude of slaves,” he added, accusing “greedy” Western governments of acting for their own benefit.
In this sense, he has warned that NATO’s non-expansion commitments in Eastern Europe have turned out to be a “deception”, as well as the agreements to stop the development of weapons. “USA is the only country in the world that used nuclear weapons twice”, he recalled, referring to the bombing of Hiroshima Y Nagasaki.
Moscow orchestrated referendums in the four regions that it now claims as its own, in a context marked by military defeats on the ground after the counteroffensive ordered a month ago from kyiv. The annexation is also preceded by a partial mobilization with which the Russian Armed Forces aspire to summon tens of thousands of reservists.
The Kremlin spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, had affirmed this Friday that any attack against the adhered Ukrainian regions will be considered as “aggression” against Russia, before influencing that these territories will be an integral part of the country.
Source: Eitb
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