Putin goes on to say
”Our proposal is not to freeze the conflict, like how the west wants it, but to end it. I repeat, this is not to freeze the conflict, but for its final completion.”
Putin goes on to say
”Our proposal is not to freeze the conflict, like how the west wants it, but to end it. I repeat, this is not to freeze the conflict, but for its final completion.”
So what would this mean for those four regions? Fully subsumed into Russia? Becoming an independent country but identifying as ethnically Russian? Staying Ukrainian but granted some sort of semi-autonomous status?
iirc DPR and LPR are already part of Russia, they would need to do new paperwork on Kherson and Zapo though
EDIT: I did not recall correctly
Kherson and Zaporozhye are already part of Russia too.
when'd they pull the legal levers on that, I missed it
iirc The DPR and LPR joined Russia the same day as Kherson and Zaporozhye.
ah ok this is the sep 30 2022 action, I was thinking of the legal moves they did before the invasion. I'll have to go back and read the MoA article to figure out what the distinction is
There was a referendum in the four regions where the public voted overwhelmingly to join Russia, though it has been argued that because many people have fled the region, it was not legitimate.
This also took place during the infamous Kharkiv retreat in September, which forced the bulk of the Ukrainian forces to take up the territories in the north and away from launching assaults (which had been rumored since August) and posing a security threat to the regions that underwent the “snap” referendum.
The only change mentioned is that they will have troops withdrawn, so I don't know if Putin is even looking for any territorial changes. Maybe he'll expect recognition of a plebiscite after the troops are withdrawn, maybe the territories will remain a part of Ukraine. I doubt anyone wants for them to form a nation.