Putin formally annexes Ukraine regions, gives residents a month to change citizenship

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law formally annexing four Ukrainian regions.

The Ukrainian regions are Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Residents of these regions have also been given one month to change their citizenship.

The passed legislation by Putin completes the last step of the annexation process, based on the Russian legal system.

“They have made a choice to be with their people, their motherland, to live with its fate, and to triumph with it. Truth is on our side. Russia is with us,” Putin had said on Friday.

TheCable had reported how Russia’s Duma, the lower house of parliament, had unanimously approved the Kremlin’s absorption of the four Ukrainian regions, with the upper house formalising the act on Tuesday.

Donetsk and Luhansk are home to two breakaway republics that Moscow has backed since 2014, while Kherson and parts of Zaporizhzhia have been controlled by Russian forces since shortly after the invasion began in late February.

The formal annexation of the regions means future attempts by Ukraine to reclaim them will be described as an attack on Russia.

On Tuesday, Yevgeny Ivanov, deputy foreign minister of Russia, said residents of the Ukrainian regions forcefully annexed by Russia have one month to change their citizenship.

“The same as it was with Crimea. Within a month they must decide, make a choice,” Ivanov said, adding that in the new territories, the issuance of documents will be accelerated.

Ukraine had rejected the annexation, which is also considered to be in defiance to international law.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukrainian president, warned that Russia’s attempt to annex Ukrainian regions would close off the possibility of any peace talks with the Kremlin.