Putin's ultimate goal in annexing territories: control over the regime and the future of Ukraine
Many expect that in his address to the nation on Friday, the Russian president will announce the decision to annex the territories in four regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.
After the annexation, Putin said that he would begin to treat attacks on those territories as attacks on Russia itself
news agencies
09/28/2022
Wednesday, September 28, 2022, 12:44 Updated: 12:55
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Russia has finished holding the fake referendums in the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine in four regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia.
99% of the residents "voted" in the referendums in favor of joining the Russian Federation.
Armed soldiers supervised the vote in these territories, where many people who supported Ukraine fled Russian control.
Residents described the vote as "forced".
However, Moscow got what it wanted: the annexation of territories in eastern Ukraine, even if the rest of the world does not recognize it.
Many expect Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to address the nation on Friday, to announce the decision to annex the territories.
According to the law, the referendums must be presented to the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, and only then forwarded for Putin's signature.
However, the Federation Council announced that its next meeting will be held on October 4.
This announcement may imply that Russia is delaying the process in order to slow down the progress of the Ukrainian army.
Another hypothesis is that the purpose of delaying the approval of the referendum is to test the local support for the annexation.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in a speech at the United Nations (Photo: Reuters)
Referendum in Luhansk (Photo: Reuters)
In recent weeks, Russia has suffered losses on the battlefield.
A counteroffensive launched last month by the Ukrainian army succeeded in recapturing an area of 8,000 square kilometers. Russian forces withdrew from the Kharkiv region and also lost territory in Donetsk and Luhansk, which were captured at the beginning of the war.
According to commentators, Russia wants to annex these territories to stop the withdrawal of its forces By declaring these territories as part of Russia, Moscow is trying to cut its losses until its forces are reorganized.
After the annexation, Putin and senior officials around him said that they would begin to treat attacks on annexed territories as attacks on Russia itself. Russia had already accused Ukraine of cross-border attacks during the war, including in Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014. Moscow has accused Ukraine of serious escalation.
In military terms, Russia could make other population centers and government institutions the target of missile attacks, similar to the attacks that targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure near Markov earlier this month.
Moscow may also conduct nuclear drills or launch a tactical nuclear strike to intimidate the West.
She is also in a hurry to recruit more people and send them to the front to avoid losing more territory.
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At home, Russia may close its borders and implement military rule in some areas.
Military rule would allow the government to confiscate assets, implement a curfew, arrest government critics, send foreign nationals to temporary camps, and other harsh measures.
In the long term, Putin appears to be interested in political control of Ukraine.
Before the war, he said that he wanted security guarantees that NATO would not expand. Now it is clear that he wants regime change in Kiev and control of the country and its political future.
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Ukraine has said that it will not accept Russia's nuclear blackmail and intends to release all the territories occupied since the beginning of the war.
Western officials said they had sent stern warnings to the Kremlin not to escalate the conflict with powerful weapons, including nuclear weapons.
The United States has announced that it will present a resolution in the UN Security Council that calls on the member states of the Council not to recognize any change in the status of Ukraine and obliges Russia to withdraw its forces, said the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Austria issued a statement condemning the "illegal referendums that are supposed to justify the annexation of the Ukrainian territories by Russia".
Joseph Borrell, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the European Union, said that "the Union condemns the holding of the illegal referendums and their falsified result.
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