The Kremlin has announced that President Putin will sign the accession treaties for Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporiyia this Friday, although it will not be internationally recognised

Russia prepares for annexation of almost 15% of Ukraine's territory

photo_camera AP/MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV - The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin

The referendum held in Crimea in March 2014 was only the prelude to the popular consultations that now, more than eight years later and in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has carried out on almost 100,000 square kilometres of Ukraine. This is 15% of the country's total territory, which includes the self-proclaimed (in February) independent republics of Lugansk and Donetsk, and the pro-Russian and largely Moscow-controlled territories of Kherson and Zaporiyia. 

"The ceremony of signing the agreements on the accession of the new territories to Russia will take place tomorrow" at noon in St. George's Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Thursday. The ceremony is expected to be attended by the pro-Russian leaders of Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporiyia, Leonid Pasechnik, Denis Pushilin, Volodymir Saldo and Yevghei Balitsky, respectively, as well as several members of parliament who will act as witnesses. All of them are already in Moscow, awaiting "a historic decision". 

The choice of St George's Hall for the initialling of the documents was not a random decision. Not only has it witnessed some of the Kremlin's greatest events, it also hosted the signing of the treaty on the annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the city of Sevastopol to Russia in 2014. Thus, Friday's event is expected to be a celebration of the highest level for Moscow. The official ceremony will be accompanied by a concert in front of the presidential palace, as well as "a major speech" by the Kremlin leader to the entire Federal Assembly. 

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Symbolic independence

As was the case with the self-styled independent republics of Donbas, Putin must formally recognise both territories as independent from Ukraine before determining the annexation of the Kherson and Zaporiyia territories to the Russian Federation. A step he already took on 21 February in the case of Lugansk and Donetsk, three days before the start of the 'special military operation' on Ukrainian soil, even though both regions had already voted to secede in 2014, and Moscow had not recognised their independence. 

Now, the two Donbas republics aspire to be considered as federal subjects within the Russian Federation. More specifically, to be recognised as a Russian federal republic, as well as Mordovia, Chechnya or Sakha. 21 republics - 22 if Crimea is included - which will rise to 25 with the entry of the new territories.

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"I think we will be admitted as a republic into the Russian Federation. The other details, such as the regulation of the rights and duties of the republic, its government and its system of power will be defined in legislative acts adopted in the near future," Lugansk's ambassador to Moscow, Rodion Miroshnik, told Sputnik. In line with Russian media reports, the authorities in the four regions have said they are joining Russia in an attempt to "defend themselves against terrorist acts" by Kiev and NATO.

Referendums held in the four regions between Friday 23 and Tuesday 27 September have, according to the Russian Electoral Commission and pro-Russian authorities in the territories, resulted in almost unanimous support for accession to Moscow, with figures ranging from 87 to 99 per cent - varying according to the source consulted. In all cases, with Kherson at the bottom of the list. However, as was the case with the absolute consensus on Crimea in 2014, these popular consultations have been labelled a sham by the international community, which sees them as a Russian pretext for continuing the invasion of Ukraine through other means. 

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With the world against it

"If anyone in Russia thinks that they can get away with everything they are doing in the occupied territories [...], that someone in Russia is making a mistake", warned Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky during one of his late-night speeches. A warning that the international community, through its sanctions, condemnations and blockades, has almost entirely endorsed. Not even India, Turkey and China, the Kremlin's traditional supporters on the international stage, have sided with Moscow on this occasion.

"Any decision to proceed with the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporiyia will have no legal value and deserves to be condemned," condemned UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. "It goes against everything the international community should stand for. [...] It must not be accepted".

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