State Duma deputies voted to join the Donetsk, Lugansk, as well as partially occupied by the Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions of Ukraine. According to the procedure, the lower house of the Russian parliament should ratify agreements with these territories and adopt constitutional laws, BBC reports.
The contracts were signed in the Kremlin on Friday, September 30.
The fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced bills to the State Duma on the annexation of the occupied territories of the Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions of Ukraine was announced the day before. On Tuesday, October 4, after the State Duma they should be approved by the Federation Council.
Treaty in the State Duma was presented by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov. Justifying the need for annexation, he fell upon the US accusations, recalling the events of the last century, and declared the right of Moscow to defend Russian and speaking Russian people in Ukraine.
On Sunday, the annexation of the occupied territories was urgently approved by the Constitutional Court of Russia.
Agreements with the leaders of the occupied territories of Ukraine appointed by Russia were signed on September 30 on the basis of the result of the “referendums” organized by Russia.