War in UkraineRussian President Vladimir Putin signed several decrees on Wednesday morning to complete the illegal annexation of occupied Ukrainian territories. These are the occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Donetsk.
Putin signed the laws previously decided in the State Duma and the Federation Council (the lower and upper house of the Russian Federal Assembly). Those laws deal with the annexation of the occupied Ukrainian territories to Russian territory. The Kremlin told state news agency TASS that the laws will come into effect immediately.
Ukraine and most of the international community are against the occupation of the areas by Russia. In addition, Ukraine is conducting a counter-offensive and is retaking parts of the territory that the Kremlin has just claimed.
Moscow only controls parts of the annexed areas, but in Moscow’s eyes the areas are now Russian territory. That increases the risk that Moscow sees the Ukrainian counter-offensive as an attack on Russia.
On Friday, Putin had signed treaties for the annexation of the territories, along with the leaders appointed by Russia. Together with the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed in 2014, Russia controls more than 16 percent of Ukraine’s territory.
The UN Security Council will consider the issue on Monday.
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