Russia’s State Duma ratifies documents on annexation of Ukrainian territories

The State Duma – Russia’s lower parliament – has approved the annexation of the four Ukrainian territories following referendums which were considered to be “shams” by the United States and other western countries. According to the new treaties, they officially ratified the annexation of People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

The referendums held in the four Ukrainian regions caused a lot of controversy amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. While the Kremlin claimed that an overwhelming amount of people voted in favour of joining Russia, the claim was completely dismissed by the western nations.

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On Monday, the Duma unanimously approved the bills regarding the proposed annexation.

“This process is the logical continuation of the unification of Russian lands that began in 2014 with the return to Russia of the republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol,” Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, who presented the bills to parliament, told local media according to Reuters.

“Both the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics and the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia will keep their names as new territories of the Russian Federation”, authorities said in the Duma.

Apart from keeping their names, the Russian parliament also approved that the official language in the regions will be Russian and they will also be using the Ruble as their official currency.

The Federation Council – the Russian Senate or the upper house of the parliament – will be voting on the annexation on Tuesday. However, Ukraine has challenged the entire process as they pointed out that the four regions are not currently under control of the Russian forces.