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- BBC News World
image source, Getty Images
Putin will give a speech following the formal signing.
The Kremlin spokesman announced that this Friday in Moscow the formal ceremony of annexation of four areas of Ukraine will be held, following the self-convened referendums that were condemned by Ukraine and the West as a farce.
“Tomorrow at 15:00 in the Georgievsky Hall the signing of agreements on the entry of new territories into the Russian Federation will take place. Putin will deliver a comprehensive speech,” said Dmitry Peskov.
The questioned votes were held in Luhansk and Donetsk, in the east, and in Zaporizhzhia and Jershon, in the south.
The Russian-backed officials claimed that the five-day exercise had obtained almost total popular support.
However, it did not occur no independent oversight of the process and there were accounts of election officials going from door to door escorted by armed soldiers.
BBC journalist Paul Kirby reported that a stage has already been set up in Red Square, with billboards proclaiming that the four regions are part of Russia.
The Russian news agency TASS reported that a concert “in support of the referendum results” is scheduled.
international repercussions
On the sidelines of Friday’s ceremony, Putin will speak with the heads of the annexed territories as well as the Russian-appointed leaders of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, Peskov reported.
image source, Archyde.com
Red Square prepares for a celebratory concert.
The United States announced that will impose sanctions to Russia for the referendums and the Member States of the European Union are analyzing an eighth round of measures once morest Moscow.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday that people in the occupied regions of Ukraine had been driven from their homes and workplaces by threats and sometimes at gunpoint.
“This is the opposite of free and fair elections. And this is the opposite of peace, it is a dictated peace,” he added.
“You have to answer verbally and the soldier marks the answer on the sheet and keeps it,” a woman in Enerhodar told the BBC.
The exercise began in 15% of Ukraine last Friday with only a few days notice.
Russian state media argued that the use of armed guards was for security reasons.
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