The authorities installed by Moscow in the Ukrainian region of Kherson indicated on Wednesday that they wanted to ask Vladimir Putin for annexation, the latest sign to date that Russia intends to conquer Ukrainian lands.
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“There will be a request (addressed to the Russian president) to integrate the Kherson region as a full subject of the Russian Federation,” Kirill Stremoussov, deputy head of the military-civilian administration of the Russian Federation, told Russian agencies. Kherson, region taken by the Russian army at the start of the offensive launched by Moscow in February against Ukraine.
“The whole legal basis (…) will be ready before the end of the year”, he said, adding that, since the international community had not recognized the referendum on the annexation of Crimea to Russia of 2014, the Kherson region will not hold a poll.
Mr. Putin ordered the assault on his neighbor accusing him of oppressing and massacring Russian speakers there. He had assured that he did not want to occupy Ukrainian territories, but to rule out a “Russophobic” and “neo-Nazi” regime to allow the installation of a more Russophile power.
But the military operations were halted by the fierce resistance of the Ukrainians, so that apart from Kherson and the capture of part of the region of Zaporijjia, the Russian successes on the ground remained limited.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reacted to the annexation idea on Wednesday, saying “it’s up to the people of the Kherson region to decide whether an appeal (to Mr. Putin) should be made.” .
“This is a question that must be clearly and precisely analyzed by jurists,” he said of the possible annexation of the region.
The Kherson region, located just north of the Crimea annexed by Moscow, is essential for supplying the peninsula with water.
Its conquest also makes it possible to constitute a land bridge linking Crimea, the pro-Russian separatist region of Donetsk and Russian territory.
Its capture should also allow Moscow to launch an assault on the great port of Odessa, in the south-west of Ukraine, without success so far, as well as towards the north towards the cities of Zaporijjia and Dnipro.
Fighting still opposes Russians and Ukrainians on the outskirts of the Kherson region, while, according to kyiv, Russia is still trying to advance towards the west and north.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, 45% of the 300,000 inhabitants of the city of Kherson have fled since the end of February, and around 20% of the population of the region estimated at one million inhabitants.
With two million hectares of arable land, this region is also a significant part of Ukraine’s agricultural power. kyiv accused Russia of looting grain silos there, as elsewhere.
For several days, Russian and pro-Russian officials have multiplied statements implying that it is the scenario of the annexation of Kherson that was favored by Moscow, rather than the creation of a “People’s Republic” as in Donetsk or Lugansk in 2014.
On May 6, a senior Russian parliamentary official and Mr. Putin’s party proclaimed that Russia will stay “forever” in Kherson, during a trip to the region.
“I would like to say once again that Russia is here forever. There should be no doubt about it, ”said Andrei Tourtchak, first deputy to the president of the upper house of Parliament.
The Russian administration in Kherson further announced the imminent introduction of the ruble instead of the Ukrainian hryvnia. Russian television channels have replaced the Ukrainian ones there and Russian mobile networks are to be set up there.
At the end of April, a Russian general had indicated that in addition to eastern Ukraine, where most of the fighting is currently taking place since Moscow failed to conquer kyiv, Russia aims to take the entire southern part of its neighbor in order to cut it off from the Black Sea and join the pro-Russian separatist territory of Transdniestria in Moldova.
Reference-www.tvanouvelles.ca