Russian attack | Russia doesn’t seem to be sure what its defined borders are

Foreign countries|Russian invasion

Russian On Monday, the Duma, the lower house of the parliament, approved the “annexation” of the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Donetsk into the Russian Federation. President Vladimir Putin signed annexation agreements with the puppet rulers of the regions on Friday last week.

Not a single representative of the Duma voted against the mergers. Abroad and in Ukraine, they have been condemned as theater in violation of international law. The annexation agreements were preceded by “referendums”, which were quickly started, in which, according to Russia’s claims, the annexations got a crushing majority behind them.

“The decision was unanimous. There are 89 entities in the Russian Federation,” stated the speaker after Monday’s vote in the Duma Vyacheslav Volodin In the Telegram messaging service.

According to Volodin, the annexation of the regions was “the only way to save millions of people from the criminal regime of Kiev” and stop the bombing of civilians, the elderly, women and children.

During Russia’s war of aggression, Russian forces have bombed civilian targets systematically, while Ukrainian forces have focused on destroying Russian forces.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov congratulated the representatives of the four “joined” regions after the Duma vote, Reuters news agency reported. Lavrov believed that the upper house of the parliament, the Federation Council, would also approve the mergers.

The Upper House vote is expected on Tuesday, The Washington Post newspaper reported.

On Sunday, the Russian Constitutional Court announced that the documents signed by Putin and the puppet rulers are in accordance with the Russian Constitution. Thus, Russia tries to present in every branch of power that it is a legitimate process. The “fourth state power”, i.e. the Russian media, also participates in the play.

On Monday, deputies of the Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, approved the “annexation” of the territories belonging to Ukraine into Russia. Picture: RUSSIAN STATE DUMA / Reuters

For area connections there is a lot of confusion simply because Russia does not hold all the territories it claims as its own. Over the weekend, Ukraine managed to capture the strategically important city of Lyman, which is part of Donetsk, which allegedly belongs to Russia.

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Monday, according to news agencies Tass and AFP, that Russia intends to “consult” the people of the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions about where they estimate the borders of their regions to be. For example, the city of Zaporizhia is under the control of Ukrainian forces, as well as a large part of the northern part of the region of the same name.

In Russia’s opinion, the borders of the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk were already defined in 2014.

According to The Washington Post, the confusion was compounded by the fact that an influential representative of the Duma Pavel Krasheninnikov stated that the “annexed” region of Kherson would also include parts of the neighboring province of Mykolayiv. There has not been a “referendum” on belonging to Russia, and not even Putin has claimed that the region or its parts belong to Russia.

Ukrainian forces have succeeded in taking over territories also in the province of Kherson in the battles of the last few days.

The Duma voting did not go without problems on Monday either. According to the Meduza website each of the four regions held its own vote on the annexation, with no votes against and no abstentions. Nevertheless, the regions were accepted as part of Russia by 413 votes, 412 votes, 409 votes and 411 votes. According to Meduza, according to the registration, there were 408 MPs present. Speaker Volodin explained the strange readings with a “technical error”.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (center) rejoiced last Friday with the leaders of the puppet governments of the “annexed” regions from Ukraine. Picture: DMITRI ASTAHOV / KREML

of The Guardian Moscow Correspondent Andrew Roth stated on Twitter that “Russia literally does not know where its international borders are”.

Putin now has a problem deciding which areas he should defend against attacks, even with nuclear weapons, writes Roth.

According to Putin, the territories “annexed” from Ukraine are forever part of Russia and attacking them is interpreted as an attack against Russia, as he stated in his speech last Friday.

“Those currently in power in Kyiv must respect this free expression of the people’s will, that is the only way to approach it. It is the only way to achieve peace. We will defend our country with all our strength and means, and we will do everything we can to ensure the safety of our citizens,” Putin said.

Russia usurped the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine with similar steps in 2014.