Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that the Ukrainian regions of Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson have become Russian.
At a ceremony hosted by the Kremlin for the annexation ceremonies, Putin delivered a lengthy speech in which he stressed that the annexation of the four new regions of the Russian Federation expresses the popular will of millions, and that the residents of those regions have become Russian citizens forever.
The Russian president urged Kyiv to stop all its military operations in Ukraine, and said, “We call on the Kyiv regime to immediately stop fighting, stop all hostilities… and return to the negotiating table.”
Putin added that Russia will do everything to defend its territory, and the Kyiv regime should respect what he described as the popular will, stressing that “it is power that will determine the political future in the world.”
He pointed out in this context that the West is trying to change the foundations of growth in the world, and prevents societies from developing by their means and from defending their sovereignty.
He considered that the West “has abandoned family values, and Russian society will not accept Western trends and abnormal behavioral patterns.”
???? President #Putin: We are witnessing the gruelling process of the forming of a more just world order ????
❌ The old unipolar hegemony is inexorably collapsing.
This is an objective reality that the West is categorically refusing to accept. pic.twitter.com/ebst2sPX5A
— MFA Russia ???????? (@mfa_russia) September 29, 2022
dollar salad
Putin accused the United States of imposing the dollar’s power on the world following World War II, and considered that “the West wants to classify us as an enemy and Europe does not want a practical solution to the energy crisis. The West does not back down from spreading false propaganda once morest us, but these lies will not warm the Europeans in the winter.”
He also attacked European policies, saying that Europe “accepts the new American colonial plans, and the West targets our partners and neighboring countries,” adding that “carrying out sabotage and explosions in gas pipelines in the Baltic is among the means of confronting Russia, and the West is the beneficiary.”
The Russian president accused the West of producing biological weapons, and using humans in Ukraine as experiment fields. He also stressed that the United States and Britain had turned countries and cities into ruins, and Washington had left bodies behind in many countries.
In his speech, he also stressed that Russia is a great country and will not accept to live on the basis of “false international rules”, and that the West has no moral right to dictate its will while dividing the world into civilized and savage nations.
‘critical step’
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that his country had taken what he described as a decisive step, by signing the request for rapid accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Zelensky stressed that Ukraine will not negotiate with Russia as long as Putin is president, adding in a video broadcast on the Internet that “Ukraine will not negotiate with Russia as long as Putin is president of the Russian Federation… We will negotiate with the new president.”
Earlier, the Ukrainian presidency announced that the National Security and Defense Council discussed measures to ensure collective security at the Ukrainian and European levels.
She also confirmed that the meeting, chaired by Zelensky, discussed confronting Russia’s attempts to annex Ukrainian lands, before the official announcement of its annexation by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
international feedback
In the first international reactions to Putin’s speech and his announcement of the annexation of Ukrainian regions, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said, “Our position towards Ukraine is consistent and is to respect its sovereignty while taking into account the security concerns of any other country,” and added, “We are ready to work with the international community to reduce escalation in Ukraine.”
For his part, European Council President Charles Michel said that “the European Union and its citizens stand with Ukraine’s sovereignty and its right to defend its territory until its liberation,” and stressed that “Russia puts global security at risk by annexing Ukrainian regions, and we will not recognize this step.”
In turn, the European Commission said that Crimea, Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk and Luhansk are Ukrainian territories, and we will never recognize their annexation to Russia, stressing that Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty are non-negotiable.
For its part, the Romanian Foreign Ministry stressed that the international community should reject the illegal annexation of Ukrainian lands by Russia, and the Austrian Foreign Ministry said that Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporozhye would remain Ukrainian regions, just like Crimea.
For its part, the Polish Foreign Ministry stressed that the international community cannot remain passive in the face of the Russian violation of the international order, and the Moldovan presidency said, “We strongly condemn Russia’s move to illegally annex occupied areas following a fake vote at gunpoint.”
In Washington, the head of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that his country would never recognize Putin’s announcement of the annexation of Ukrainian lands, adding, “We will not give any importance to Putin’s attempts to change the map of Europe.”
