The signing ceremony of the accession agreements with Russia of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk and of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, occupied by Russian forces in the framework of the invasion of Ukraine, will take place this Friday, according to confirmed Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov.
the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, will sign this Friday the treaties for the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Jerson and Zaporiyiathe Kremlin announced.
“The signing ceremony of the agreements for the entry of the new territories into Russia will take place tomorrow,” said the spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, in his daily telephone press conference, in which he added that the act will have place in the San Jorge room of the Grand Kremlin Palace at 3:00 p.m. (09:00 a.m. in Chile).
This, following the referendums held in these regions, which exceeded 90% approval by the population according to official data, dismissed as fraudulent by practically the entire international community, while Moscow seeks to use them to legitimize its occupation, as it did in 2014 with the peninsula of Crimea.
The leaders of those regions arrived last night on a common flight to the Russian capital.
The previous day, the pro-Russian chiefs of Jershon, Volodymyr Saldo; of Zaporiyia, Yevgeny Balitsky; of Donetsk, Dennis Pushilin; and of Lugansk, Leonid Pásechnik, formally petitioned Putin for the incorporation of their territories into Russia.
Results of doubtful legitimacy
According to the results released today by the pro-Russian authorities with one hundred percent of the ballots counted, between 87.05 and 99.23% of voters in the territories partially controlled by Russian forces in eastern and southern Ukraine supported annexation to Russia.
Both houses of the Russian parliament are expected to formally endorse the annexation agreements early next week.
The Russian Senate plans to debate that issue on October 4. Before, the incorporation has to receive the approval of the Russian Duma or Lower House, which meets for an extraordinary session a day before.
At the same time, tomorrow followingnoon on Red Square there will be an event in support of the incorporation of new territories into Russia.
The Kremlin indicated that it would report later on Putin’s possible attendance at this event.
