The Constitutional Court of Russia approved the documents on the illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of Ukraine.
This is reported by Radio Svoboda.
According to the decree, the Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions allegedly "became part of the Russian Federation in the status of republics", and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions as "separate subjects with their current names".
Also, "parliamentary elections" have already been scheduled for September 2023 in the occupied regions.
The next step is the ratification of the annexation in the chambers of the federal assembly (the State Duma and the Federation Council).
- On September 30, Putin announced the "joining" of the occupied Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions to the Russian Federation.
- Because of this, the USA, Canada and Great Britain introduced new sanctions against Russia. The European Council also announced sanctions and condemned the annexation.
- Ukraine introduced sanctions against more than 3,600 Russians and Russian companies. Putinʼs relatives got in this list, as well as Russian propagandists, oligarchs and collaborators.
- The Ukrainian authorities declared that the annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia would not change anything — the Ukrainian Armed Forces would continue to liberate the occupied lands.