Russian Lower House approves annexation of 4 occupied Ukrainian regions – National

The lower house of Russia’s parliament on Monday approved legislation to annex four occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia after hastily organized votes that denounced Ukraine and the West as coerced and illegitimate.

No lawmaker in the State Duma voted against the resolutions aimed at officially incorporating Ukraine’s Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia regions into Russia.

“The decision was taken unanimously. There are 89 units in the Russian Federation,” Parliament Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin posted on Telegram, along with a map of Russia showing the four regions plus Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 without international recognition.

Shortly after the votes, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov congratulated the representatives of the four regions and said he was confident that the Upper House of Parliament would also approve the measures.

It was not to be expected that the resolutions would not meet with opposition either in the Duma or in the upper house, the Federation Council, which largely act as the stamp of Kremlin policy.

Russia last week began a formal process to annex Ukraine’s four territories, but none are fully under the control of its armed forces, and Ukraine has made headway on counter-offensives in the south and east.

(Reported by Reuters; Edited by Kevin Liffey)

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Ukraine is leading a successful counteroffensive while Russia is losing ground