Training of Russian troops in the Rostov-on-Don region. /
The Russian president postpones the final signature to decide first what measures to adopt with the Ukrainian troops that according to him occupy Russian territory
The entire setup of the fraudulent and illegal referendums organized in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia and the staging in the Kremlin, last Friday, of the signing of the annexation treaties of these four territories by Moscow had The main objective, judging by what the former Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, announced, was to dissuade the kyiv Army from advancing under the threat that, once on Russian territory, “all available means” would be used, including nuclear weapons. to expel them.
After having received the approval of the Constitutional Court and being ratified in both Chambers of Parliament, the “federal constitutional laws” that add four new territorial entities to the Russian Federation should have been signed immediately by the head of state, by Vladimir Putin. The procedure was practically completed this morning when the ratification of the “international treaties” received the unanimous support of the senators of the Council of the Federation (Upper House) and also those four “federal constitutional laws.”
In the absence only of Putin signing it, as he always does immediately when it comes to norms of vital importance to him. But it has not been like that, for the moment. Tuesday has passed without the Russian president closing the cycle of annexations by stamping his signature on the four new regulations of constitutional rank that will modify the text of the Russian Magna Carta in its article 65 of Section 3 (Federal Structure) adding the names of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhie (Zaporijia).
It will also be indicated that the number of “subjects of the Federation” will now be 89, instead of the 85 in force until now. The boundaries of these four “Russian republics” will be the administrative boundaries set for Soviet Ukraine. Since kyiv’s troops control much of Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, Lugansk is the only one under near total occupation by Russian and separatist forces. But it turns out that, according to the Kremlin, the occupants are now the Ukrainians for maintaining their positions in regions that belong to Russia.
So analysts speculate that, once Putin enacts the laws, he will later issue an ultimatum to kyiv to leave those lands. The question is with what threat: nuclear or, as has been used on some occasions, bombing the “centers of power”, the Presidency, the seat of government and the building of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) in the Ukrainian capital. It does not seem that any of this is going to intimidate the authorities in kyiv, so, in order not to look ridiculous, Putin would be forced to make a new flight forward with another twist in the escalation of the conflict of truly critical magnitude and dangerous.
With the session of the Federation Council already underway, Senator Liudmila Narúsova, widow of the legendary mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoli Sobchak, asked Deputy Foreign Minister Grigori Karasin on Tuesday how to proceed with the areas in power of Ukrainian troops from the annexed regions. “Since the date of signing these agreements, the line of contact – of the front – has changed, and currently we are recommended to accept regions within the Russian Federation, part of whose territories are occupied by the armed forces of another country », launched Narúsova in the hemicycle.
And he added that “I expected an explanation from the Constitutional Court, but I did not receive it.” The Speaker of the Chamber, Valentina Matviyenko, then took the floor to point out that the one who should clarify things is not Karasin but Senator Andréi Klishás, who represents the Federation Council in the Constitutional Court, but he said that its judges “do not evaluate questions of fact”, so, in his opinion, it is useless to wait for it to resolve the matter.
“Consult” about the borders
On Monday, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, stated that the annexed territory of Donetsk and Lugansk is the one that corresponds to the administrative limits of 2014. However, he could not clearly answer journalists about how it will be in the cases of Kherson and Zaporizhia. He said that “we will continue to consult with the population of these regions to determine their borders.” Peskov was then questioned as to whether or not the sectors of Kherson and Zaporizhia under the control of the Ukrainian Army are part of Russia, to which he responded by saying that “I have nothing more to add now.” He, too, was unable to answer the question about how these consultations with the population will take place, if through another referendum or how.
The Russian analyst on defense and foreign policy issues, Maxim Yusin, one of the commentators on the NTV program of the Kremlin propagandist, Andréi Norkin, deplored this weekend that Putin “has included territories in the Russian Federation that he does not control (…) I do not remember such a precedent in world history».
