Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on the 30th (local time) that territories occupied in Ukraine will be annexed, saying that there are “four new regions” in Russia.
Putin made this comment in a speech in the Kremlin before the agreement to annex 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 region of Zaporiza and Kherson Oblast.
The area occupied by these territories is about 90,000 square kilometers, about 15% of the total territory of Ukraine and equal to the whole of Portugal.
These four regions decided to unite 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 to annex the territories occupied by referendum “is in accordance with the right to self-determination guaranteed in the United Nations Charter.”
“As the will of the people of these communities becomes clear, I am confident that Congress will support their unification,” he added.
As for Ukraine, he said, “Russia is not going back to the Soviet Union. We are ready for dialogue. We must stop military action immediately and return to the negotiating table.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine and the West have defined the referendum as a “fake vote” and are pushing for additional sanctions against Russia.
Shin Min-kyung, reporter at Hankyung.com radio@hankyung.com
