New Delhi: Russia will formally annex four Russia-occupied regions of Ukraine at a Kremlin ceremony on Friday, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday as reported by the news agency AFP. The ceremony will take place at 1500 Moscow-time (1200 GMT) on Friday "on agreements on the accession of new territories into the Russian Federation," confirmed Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Agreements will be signed "with all four territories that held referendums and made corresponding requests to the Russian side," Peskov said.
Peskov told reporters on Thursday that the heads of the four regions would sign treaties to join Russia during an event on Friday at the Kremlin's St. George's Hall.
Ukraine and Western countries have condemned the referendum.
Announcement to hold referendum from Friday
Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and the partly Russian-held Zaporizhzhya region announced a referendum on Friday. This announcement has been made after his close ally Russian President Vladimir Putin told the need for it. At the same time, after seven months after the start of the war, Russia seems to be losing ground.
Earlier, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that the merger of eastern Ukraine regions with Russia and redefining their borders is "irreversible" and will enable Russia to take "any step" to defend it.
It is almost certain that such a referendum will go in favor of Moscow, but Western governments supporting Ukraine's military will not recognize it. The referendum will give Russia a chance to intensify fighting at a time when Ukraine's military is taking the lead.
Luhansk and Donetsk jointly form a large part of the Donbas region, which has been occupied by separatists since 2014 and which Putin made the primary base for the Russian offensive.
"The long-suffering people of the Donbas deserve to be part of a Great Country, that they have always considered their homeland," wrote Denis Pushillin, the separatist leader of the Donetsk People's Republic, in a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin as quoted by AFP.
Meanwhile, the Finnish government said Thursday it would significantly limit passenger traffic on Finland’s border with Russia, banning Russian citizens traveling with tourist visas from entering the Nordic country effective Friday, as reported by AP.
“The decision in principle aims to completely prevent Russian tourism to Finland and the related transit through Finland,” Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said during a news conference.