Vladimir Putin signs bills to annex four regions of Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation to annex four territories of Ukraine despite global condemnation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed legislation to annex four territories of Ukraine, according to documents published by a government portal.

The Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions are “accepted into the Russian Federation in accordance with the constitution of the Russian Federation”, the documents said.

To annex the territories, some sort of treaty will need to be struck and ratified by the Russian parliament, which is controlled by Putin allies. The areas will then be seen as part of Russia and its nuclear umbrella will extend to them.

Putin has warned he could use nuclear weapons to protect Russian territory from attack.

Residents who escaped to Ukrainian-held areas in recent days have claimed people are being forced to mark ballots in the street by roving officials at gunpoint. Footage filmed during the exercise showed Russian-installed officials taking ballot boxes from house to house with armed men in tow.

Putin has warned he could use nuclear weapons to protect Russian territory from attack.

“They can announce anything they want. Nobody voted in the referendum except a few people who switched sides. They went from house to house but nobody came out,” said Lyubomir Boyko, 43, from Golo Pristan, a village in Russian-occupied Kherson province.

Russia says voting was voluntary, in line with international law, and that turnout was high.

The US and its Western allies have sharply condemned the votes as “sham” and vowed never to recognise their results.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock on Thursday joined other Western officials in denouncing the referendums.

To annex Ukraine’s territories, some sort of treaty will need to be struck and ratified by the Russian parliament, which is controlled by Putin allies.

“Under threats and sometimes even (at) gunpoint people are being taken out of their homes or workplaces to vote in glass ballot boxes,” she said at a conference in Berlin.

“This is the opposite of free and fair elections,” Ms Baerbock said.

“And this is the opposite of peace. It’s dictated peace. As long as this Russian diktat prevails in the occupied territories of Ukraine, no citizen is safe. No citizen is free.”

— with AFP