Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on the 30th (local time) the annexation of occupied territories in Ukraine, saying that “there are four new regions” in Russia.
Putin made this remark in a speech at the Kremlin ahead of the treaty of annexation with four occupied territories in Ukraine, according to the Tass news agency. “Russia will use all means to defend its territory,” he said.
“The United States has set a precedent for using nuclear weapons on Japan twice,” Putin said.
The newly merged regions are the Eastern Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Lugansk (Ukrainian name Luhansk) People’s Republic (LPR), the southern Zaporiza Oblast and Kherson Oblast.
The area occupied by these territories is regarding 90,000 square kilometers, regarding 15% of the total territory of Ukraine and equivalent to all of Portugal.
These four regions decided to merge with Russia through a referendum held for five days on the 23rd and 27th of this month with a vote of 87-99% in favor of each region.
Putin explained that the request for annexation of the occupied territories through a referendum was “in accordance with the right to self-determination guaranteed in the UN Charter.”
“As the will of the people of these communities has become clear, I am confident Congress will support their merger,” he added.
Regarding Ukraine, he said, “Russia is not going back to the Soviet Union. We are ready for dialogue. We must immediately stop military action and return to the negotiating table.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine and the West have defined the referendum as a “fake ballot” and are pushing for additional sanctions once morest Russia.
Shin Min-kyung, reporter at Hankyung.com radio@hankyung.com