Russia will annex this Friday the territories of four provinces of Ukraine occupied by its Army, under threat of defending them with nuclear weapons and despite the condemnation of Western powers and the UN, which raises fears of an aggravation of the largest war conflict in Europe since the Second World War.
President Vladimir Putin and the pro-Russian leaders of the Ukrainian provinces of Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson will sign the treaties of incorporation into Russia this Friday in the KremlinPutin’s spokesman Dmitri Peskov announced to journalists on Thursday.
All, just hours after Putin will sign this Thursday two decrees recognizing the independence of Zaporizhia and Khersonaccording to a statement published on the Russian legal information portal, in which he argues that the step is taken taking into account counts the “will of the people” and “in accordance with the principles and norms of International Law”.
The president will deliver a speech this Friday after the signing ceremony of the treaties in the Saint George Hall of the Russian government headquarters, added Peskov.
The annexation will come after referendums on joining Russia held in recent days in those four provinces. from eastern and southern Ukraine, which ended with an overwhelming Yes victory.
The United States and other Western countries supplying weapons to Ukraine to defend itself from the military intervention launched seven months ago by Russia they condemned the referendums as “illegal” and anticipated that they will never recognize their results.
The Ukrainian government said that President Volodymyr Zelensky convened the National Security and Defense Council for this Friday to discuss Russia’s decision.
“Any decision to proceed with the annexation of the Ukrainian regions will have no legal value and deserve to be condemned (…) It is a dangerous escalation. This has no place in the modern world,” said UN Secretary General António Guterres.
“The fake Kremlin referendums are a futile effort to mask what amounts to a new attempted land grab in Ukraine,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in tune.
European leaders also immediately rejected the Russian announcement.
“It is absolutely unacceptable,” said the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavsky, whose country holds the pro tempore presidency of the European Union (EU).
Italy’s acting prime minister, Mario Draghi, told Zelensky during a telephone conversation on Thursday that his country would not recognize the annexation, reported the office of the outgoing Italian head of government.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also condemned the referendums: “Under threats and sometimes even at gunpoint, people were taken from their homes to vote.”
“This is the opposite of free and democratic elections. And this is the opposite of peace. It is a dictated peace. No citizen will be safe as long as Russian dictates prevail in the occupied territories of Ukraine. No citizen will be free,” he added. Turkey, a Muslim NATO member country, said it will also not recognize the results of the referendums or the annexation of Ukrainian provinces.
For its part, the pro-Russian separatist leaders who since 2014 control Ukrainian territories in the eastern Lugansk and Donetsk and the authorities of the southern Zaporizhia and Kherson arrived in Moscow on Wednesday night by planethe Russian press reported.
“I am in Moscow,” Lugansk leader Leonid Pasechnik confirmed today. to the Tass news agency.
On Wednesday, pro-Russian officials had already sent “official” requests to Putin to incorporate the four provinces into Russia.
Moscow warned that, in case of annexation, the provinces will become part of its territoryso it could use nuclear weapons to defend them.
The four provinces are contiguous, creating an uninterrupted corridor from Russia to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014, after another massive referendum not recognized by NATO countries.
Its control would allow a better defense of Crimea, where Russia has anchored its Black Sea fleet.
Local militias and the Russian Army control almost all of Lugansk and 60% of Donetsk.. While the southern half of Zaporizhia and almost all of Kherson are under the control of the forces sent by the Kremlin.
Putin formalized the independence of Zaporizhia and Kherson and that is why, technically, what will be signed this Friday is about “the entry of new Russian territories into the Russian Federation,” Peskov explained.
The international community, including Argentina, has never recognized Russian sovereignty over Crimea, and is expected to ignore the annexation of the four provinces.
In the past week, Putin ordered a mobilization of up to 300,000 reservists to Ukraine, and his defense minister said his goal is to protect the annexed areas. and the line of contact with the Ukrainian troops, of more than 1,000 kilometers.
The mobilization unleashed protests in Russia in which more than 2,000 people were arrested, according to an NGO.
In addition, countries bordering Russia have seen a very significant upturn in the income of Russians since the recruitment order.
Finland announced that from this midnight it will close its borders to Russian citizens holding a European tourist visa for the free movement area known as Schengen.
With its decision, the Nordic country is in fact aligned with the one adopted at the beginning of September by Poland and the three Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the other EU member states that border Russia.
In Moscow, Peskov said that agreements on the territories’ entry into the Russian Federation will be signed before the Federation Council, the Russian Senate, considers related issues.
“In any case, there will be a signature first,” Peskov said, responding to a question about why the event is scheduled for tomorrow and the Federation Council meeting only for Tuesday the 4th.
According to Russian news agencies, the Russian Parliament must vote in the coming days on a text formalizing the annexation. A speech by Putin to deputies and senators is also expected.
In Moscow there seem to be festivities planned for this Friday. The municipal authorities announced the closure of some downtown streets, especially around the Red Squarewhere a stage has been set up and there will be a concert, AFP news agencies reported.
In parallel, tension is also growing due to leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines that connect Russia with Germany through the Baltic Sea and that could have been the object of sabotage related to war.
A fourth leak was detected this Thursday by the Swedish Coast Guard.
The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines run almost in parallel and are at the center of the tensions unleashed around a cut in the shipment of Russian gas to Europe in apparent response to Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.
Accused by Ukraine of having sabotaged the pipelines after reporting underwater explosions prior to the leaks, Russia defended itself by pointing to the United States and convened a UN Security Council meeting on the issue for this Friday.
