(CNN) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that Ukraine must comply with Moscow’s proposals regarding its “new territories” or the Russian military would take action, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS.
“The enemy is well aware of our proposals for the demilitarization and denazification of the territories controlled by the regime and the elimination of threats to Russian security from there, including our new territories (DNR, LNR and the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions), Lavrov said, repeating the false accusations of Nazism once morest Ukraine used by Moscow in an attempt to justify its invasion.
“There is only one thing left to do: fulfill them before it is too late. Otherwise, the Russian army will take matters into its own hands.
“Regarding the duration of the conflict, the ball is now in the court of Washington and his regime. They can stop this useless resistance at any time.”
The four occupied territories
Russia claimed control of the four regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson following fake referendums in September, widely criticized by Kyiv and Western governments for violating international law.
But Russia has struggled with setbacks in these areas from the start: Moscow’s forces were not in full control of the territories when they were approved as part of the Russian Federation.
Just weeks following the illegal annexation of Kherson, Ukraine recaptured its eponymous regional capital, liberating some 10,000 square kilometers of land and moving its Western-supplied artillery within range of Crimea.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the situation in the four occupied territories was “extremely complicated,” a rare window into the challenges Moscow faces in areas it has tried to illegally annex.
