Russia: “Green light” from the State Duma – The annexation of the four regions of Ukraine was approved

The laws for annexation of four occupied Ukrainian regions to Russiaafter the hastily organized referenda which the Ukraine and the West denounced as coercive and illegal approved on Monday (3/10) by the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.

No MP in the State Duma voted against the resolutions, which aim to formally integrate the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia into Russia.

“The decision was taken unanimously. There are 89 entities in the Russian Federation” parliament speaker Vychislav Volodin pointed out in a Telegram post, along with a map of Russia that included the four regions as well as Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine without the annexation ever receiving international recognition in 2014.

During his statements shortly after the vote, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as reported by the Athens News Agency, congratulated representatives from the four regions and said he was confident that the upper house would also approve the measures.

The resolutions were not expected to meet any opposition from either the Duma or the upper house, the Federation Council, which usually acts as the rubber stamp on Kremlin policy.

Russia started one formal annexation process of the four Ukrainian regions last week, but none are fully under the control of its forces, and Ukraine is making progress in counterattacks in the south and east.