Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has signed treaties to annex four occupied areas of Ukraine.
According to Associated Press, Putin in a speech preceding the treaty-signing ceremony on Friday urged Ukraine to sit down for talks to end the seven months of fighting that started when he ordered his troops to invade the neighboring country.
Putin added that he would use “all available means” to protect the territory that Ukrainian and Western officials said Russia was claiming illegitimately and in violation of international law.
He also warned that Russia would never give up the absorbed regions and would protect them as part of its sovereign territory.
The ceremony came three days after the completion of Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” on joining Russia that were dismissed by Kyiv and the West as a bare-faced land grab held at gunpoint and based on lies.
Putin said Ukrainian authorities should “treat…with respect” the lopsided results of the Moscow-managed votes and warned sternly that Russia would never surrender control of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Both houses of the Kremlin-controlled Russian parliament will meet next week to rubber-stamp the treaties for the regions to join Russia, sending them to Putin for his approval.
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