The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin claimed “four new regions of Russia” as he inked the annexation of four Ukrainian regions- Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia- on Friday noon. The announcement follows illicit referendums in the Russian-occupied territories this week.
In front of hall of Kremlin officials, Vladimir Putin delivered his speech on Friday after in capital city of Moscow to announce a full annexation of the four Ukrainian regions. Ukraine replied shortly after by announcing a formal application for NATO membership.
The speech of Putin was a litany of unfiltered imperialism stuffed with disinformation & far-fetched grievances against Ukraine and mainly the West. He sought to present the annexation as legitimate by a new national law and deliberately misconstrued the UN Charter to invoke the principle of ‘self-determination’.
Annexations are in strict violation of the founding principles of the UN Charter, set out after the 2nd World War. It is bitterly ironic that Russia’s grab on Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia is the biggest annexation in Europe since Hitler.
Regarding the Donbas, Putin spoke of “victims of inhumane terrorist attacks conducted by the Kyiv regime,” building on the pretext for Russia’s 8-year war in Eastern region of Ukraine.
“Despite all the difficulties, they have carried their love for Russia. This feeling cannot be exterminated by anyone.” Putin’s imperialist vision, steeped in historical revision, was on full display as he claimed that Russia’s annexation is the “choice of millions of people” who share a “common history”.
Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has rejected Russian claims of genocide towards Russian people shortly after the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
With a dose of victimhood not unusual to fascists movements, Putin referenced historical grievances which sought to portray the Soviet era as a period of national “brotherhood”, a claim which holds little credence beyond Kremlin strongholds.
Moreover, President Putin has blamed the West of operating under a “neo-colonial system” to rob all the nations in the world. “They don’t want to see us as a free society. They want to see us as a crowd of slaves,” he stated to a rapture applause from Kremlin officials.