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RUSSIA TO FORMALLY ANNEX FOUR MORE AREAS OF UKRAINE

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7 days ago
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 * Russia-Ukraine war

Image source, NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP
Image caption,
Four Ukrainian regions under Russian occupation are being annexed: Donetsk,
Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson
By Paul Kirby
BBC News


Russia's Vladimir Putin will hold a signing ceremony on Friday to annex four
more areas of Ukraine after self-styled referendums condemned by Ukraine and the
West as a sham.

Russian-backed officials had earlier claimed the five-day exercise secured
almost total popular support.

So-called votes were held in Luhansk and Donetsk in the east, and in
Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south.

The Russian president will make a major speech at the Kremlin.

A stage has already been set up in Moscow's Red Square, with billboards
proclaiming the four regions as part of Russia and a concert planned for the
evening.

The event echoes Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, which also followed a
discredited referendum and was heralded by a Kremlin signing followed by a
presidential victory speech in parliament. That initial annexation has never
been recognised by the vast majority of the international community, and nor
will this.



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the "pseudo-referendums" were
worthless and did not change reality. "The territorial integrity of Ukraine will
be restored. And our reaction to recognition of the results by Russia will be
very harsh."

No independent monitoring of the Russian process took place and election
officials were pictured going from door to door escorted by armed soldiers.

"Tomorrow at 15:00 (12:00 GMT) in the St George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace
a signing ceremony will be held on incorporating the new territories into
Russia," said spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Separate agreements will be signed with
the two Russian-backed separatist leaders from the east and the two
Russian-appointed officials from the south.

As with Crimea, Russia's two houses of parliament will formally ratify the
annexation treaties next week. The Russian president is expected to address to
the upper house of parliament on 4 October, three days before his 70th birthday.

The US has said it will impose sanctions on Russia because of the staged
referendums, while EU member states are considering an eighth round of measures,
including sanctions on anyone involved in the votes.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday that people in
occupied regions of Ukraine had been taken from their homes and workplaces by
threat and sometimes at gunpoint. "This is the opposite of free and fair
elections. And this is the opposite of peace, it is a dictated peace," she said.



The exercise began across 15% of Ukraine last Friday with only a few days'
notice. Russian state media argued that the use of armed guards was for security
purposes, but it was clear that it had the added effect of intimidating
residents.

"You have to answer verbally and the soldier marks the answer on the sheet and
keeps it," one woman in Enerhodar told the BBC.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Soldiers armed with guns joined officials going door to door in Donetsk

Russia does not fully control any of the four regions it has decided to annex.
Although most of Luhansk remains in Russian hands, Moscow only controls 60% of
Donetsk.

Seven months after Russian forces invaded Ukraine from the north, east and
south, war is still raging on front lines in all four areas. The capital of the
southern region of Zaporizhzhia is firmly under the control of Ukraine's
government, and a counter-offensive is under way in Kherson.

Although Russian-appointed officials have been calling for annexation for
several months, Ukraine's series of military successes in September appear to
have forced the Kremlin's hand.

 * What Russia wants from its annexation 'votes'
 * Russia claims win in Ukrainian 'sham' votes
 * Finland closes border to Russian tourists

The Ukrainian army has recaptured large swathes of the north-east and on
Thursday said its forces were encircling Russian troops in the strategically
important city of Lyman, in Donetsk.


Image source, Maxar
Image caption,
This satellite image shows the stream of Russian citizens leaving their country
for neighbouring Georgia on 26 September

Last week, Vladimir Putin announced a military call-up and threatened to use all
means at his disposal, including nuclear weapons, to defend what he considered
Russian land. By annexing occupied areas of Ukraine, he will be able to argue
that Russian territory is coming under attack from Western weapons, in the hope
that some governments may halt their military aid to Kyiv.

However, Ukraine's foreign minister has warned the sham votes will not have any
influence on the battlefield.

Mr Putin has admitted that mistakes have been made in his drive to mobilise
hundreds of thousands of Russians to bolster his troops on the front lines. Some
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 for onward travel to
other EU countries.




MORE ON THIS STORY

 * Russia claims win in Ukrainian 'sham' votes
   
   27 September
   
   

 * Final day of discredited polls in Russian-held Ukraine
   
   27 September
   
   

 * Russia admits errors during war mobilisation drive
   
   26 September
   
   

View comments


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