LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters) – Russia will on Friday launch its plan to annex about 15 percent of Ukrainian territory through referendums in four regions controlled by Russian forces, a move the West says is a flagrant violation of international law which significantly escalates the war. . After nearly seven months of war and a critical defeat on the battlefield in northeastern Ukraine earlier this month, President Vladimir Putin explicitly backed referendums after Russian-controlled regions lined up to demand snap votes to join Russia. The self-proclaimed Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republics (LPR), which Putin recognized as independent shortly before the invasion, and the Russian-installed administrations in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions will hold votes. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up The vote, which the West and Ukraine say is fraudulent, is due to start on Friday and conclude on Tuesday, with results expected soon after. Russia will officially annex the regions after the results. “The Kremlin is staging a fake referendum to try to annex parts of Ukraine,” US President Joe Biden told the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. “Ukraine has the same rights that belong to any sovereign nation. We will stand in solidarity with Ukraine,” said Biden, who characterized the war as part of a global conflict between democracy and autocracy. Ukraine, whose post-Soviet borders were recognized by Russia under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, says it will never accept Russian control of any of its territory and will fight until the last Russian soldier is ejected. Putin, Russia’s top leader since 1999, said Russia would never abandon those in areas it controls who he said wanted to break away from Kyiv. Members of the local election commission gather at a polling station ahead of a planned referendum on the union of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic with Russia, in Donetsk, Ukraine September 22, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko read more He sees the war as both a battle to save Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine from persecution and a way to thwart what he says is a Western plot to destroy Russia. Ukraine denies that Russian speakers have been persecuted. In an immediate nukes warning to the West, Putin said he would defend Russian territory — and those parts of Ukraine soon to be considered Russian territory by Moscow — with all means at his disposal.
“VOTES VOTES”
It’s unclear exactly how votes will work in a war zone when so many people have been displaced. Russia controls most of Luhansk and Kherson, about 80% of Zaporizhia and only 60% of Donetsk. Fighting continues in all four regions. The results are not disputed. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley said Russian-based officials in the regions were setting targets for invented voter turnout and approval rates, with some turnout figures already agreed. The conflict in eastern Ukraine began in 2014 after the overthrow of a pro-Russian president in Ukraine’s Maidan revolution and Russia’s annexation of Crimea, while Russian-backed separatists in the Donbass – which consists of Donetsk and Luhansk – tried to move away from Kiev’s control. After Russian forces took control of Crimea, which has a Russian majority and was transferred to Ukraine during the Soviet era, on 27 February 2014, a referendum on joining Russia was held on 16 March. Crimean leaders said they voted 97% to secede from Ukraine. Russia officially annexed Crimea on March 21. Kyiv and the West have said the referendum violates Ukraine’s constitution and international law. “From next week, Russia will consider these Ukrainian territories as part of Russia and will claim any attempts by Ukraine to retake their own sovereign territories as an ‘invasion of Russia,’” British Intelligence said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Written by Guy Faulconbridge and Felix Light. Editor: Daniel Wallis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
