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Sham referendum in Lugansk
Photo: Alexander Reka / ITAR-TASS / IMAGO
On Friday, Russia will formally complete the annexation of the four Russian-controlled regions in Ukraine.
At a ceremony on Friday afternoon in the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin, the agreements on including these regions in the Russian Federation are to be signed.
This was announced by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
At 3:00 p.m., that is, at 2:00 p.m. Central European Time, "a ceremony to sign agreements on the accession of new territories to the Russian Federation" will take place in the Grand Kremlin Palace, Peskov said.
Previously there had been illegal mock referendums in the territories.
The pseudo-referendums on the union with Russia were scheduled at short notice last Tuesday in the regions partially occupied by Russia and ran until this Tuesday.
They represent a breach of international law. The sham referenda are not recognized worldwide because they are held in violation of Ukrainian and international laws and without minimum democratic standards.
The Moscow-appointed heads of Ukraine's four Russian-controlled regions have already arrived in Moscow to take part in Russia's annexation of these territories, following the so-called referendums.
The heads of the pro-Russian administrations in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk and in the southern Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhia and Cherson landed in the Russian capital on Wednesday evening, Russian news agencies reported.
The ruler in the Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, was already in Moscow, as he himself told the state agency TASS.
The four heads of administration installed by the Kremlin were to be received by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
On Wednesday, they formally asked Putin to include the four regions in the Russian Federation.
Previously they had announced overwhelming majorities for the annexation by Russia in the "referendums".
The government in Kyiv and its western partners denounced the votes as a "farce".
asc/Reuters/AFP/dpa