On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the accession treaties of the four Russian-occupied regions, Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia, declaring that the referenda results reflected the people’s “unequivocal choice” to join Russia.
In a speech at the Grand Kremlin Palace’s St George Hall, he reaffirmed that it was the “will of millions” and their “inherent right… based on our historical affinity.” “Despite all the trials they endured, they carried the love for Russia through the years. This is something no one can destroy,” he asserted, adding, “There is nothing stronger than their determination to return to their true historical homeland.”
Vladimir Putin your speech is a fraud and a disgrace. The world must never accept your sham referendums or your cruel and illegal attempt to colonise Ukraine. We stand with the people of Ukraine and will support them without flinching until their country is whole and free.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 30, 2022
The Russian Constitutional Court approved the accession treaties of the four Russia-controlled regions on Sunday, paving the way for the State Duma to ratify them and consider the draft constitutional laws in a plenary session on Monday. As per State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, the Federation Council will review the bills on Tuesday.
Head of the State Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov stated that the authorities in the newly-annexed territories will be established by 1 June, 2023, with the ruble as the currency.
Black swan would be a Russian declaration of a unilateral ceasefire. Would test the West’s resilience in Ukraine’s fight for its territorial sovereignty. Ukraine’s strategy continues to be to get back the lost regions with the help of Western arms, intelligence and finance.
— Alexander Stubb (@alexstubb) October 3, 2022
4/15
During his address on Friday, Putin acknowledged that “Russia no longer needs the Soviet Union today,” asserting that a “return to the past” is not his “ambition.” Furthermore, he once again called on Ukraine to “immediately cease fire and all hostilities… and return to the negotiating table.” However, he maintained that the decision regarding Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson will not be discussed. “Kyiv’s current authorities should respect this free expression of the people’s will; there is no other way. This is the only way to peace,” Putin stated.
The Russian president went on to blame the West for continuing to look “to weaken and break up Russia, which they have always dreamed about, to divide our state and set our peoples against each other, and to condemn them to poverty and extinction.” He also slammed them for insisting on an international rules-based order, saying, “This is just a lot of nonsense, utter deceit, double standards, or even triple standards! They must think we’re stupid. Russia is a great thousand-year-old power, a whole civilisation, and it is not going to live by such makeshift, false rules.”
He thinks that by doing so, he's showing resolve. What he's actually doing is admitting that he has screwed up so colossally that his only way out is to challenge the entire global system of cooperation that has thwarted him. /2
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 3, 2022
In this respect, Putin underscored that the West’s “insatiability and determination to preserve their unfettered dominance are the real causes of the hybrid war that the collective West is waging against Russia.” Noting that it would not make a difference, he remarked, “The ongoing collapse of Western hegemony is irreversible.”
“Russia is aware of its responsibility to the international community and will make every effort to ensure that cooler heads prevail,” he added.
Regarding Western countries’ several warnings against using nuclear weapons, he pointed out that the United States (US) had “created a precedent,” noting that the US is the only country to have used nuclear weapons (to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during World War II).
Building on his dialogue with @ZelenskyyUa, I had a call with @JensStoltenberg to brief him in detail on Ukraine’s membership application. We agreed to keep in contact on the matter and discussed NATO’s further practical steps to support Ukraine in countering Russian aggression.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) October 1, 2022
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected Putin’s offer to reach a ceasefire, saying it is “impossible” to agree on terms with the incumbent Russian President. However, he agreed to a dialogue with “another President of Russia.”
He also announced on the same day that Ukraine had applied for “accelerated accession” to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to ensure its security, stating that Kyiv will not allow Moscow to “steal” territories in order to “rewrite history and redraw borders with murders, torture, blackmail and lies.”
Jake Sullivan's comments were almost exactly the same as what Jens Stoltenberg said:
— Samuel Ramani (@SamRamani2) September 30, 2022
The door is open for Ukraine to join NATO after the 2008 Bucharest Summit but the focus is on militarily helping Ukraine beat Russia rather than letting Ukraine into NATO
Nine countries—the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania—have agreed to support Ukraine’s NATO bid.
However, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said while Washington supports NATO’s open-door policy, Ukraine’s NATO membership application “should be taken up at a different time.” “Right now, our view is that the best way for us to support Ukraine is through practical, on-the-ground support in Ukraine,” he said in a press briefing on Friday.