Criticism of Russia: “Another attempt at land grabbing”

The planned annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia has met with massive criticism internationally. The US speaks of an “affront to the principles of international peace”, UN Secretary General Guterres considers them worthless.

The United States has strongly condemned Russia’s planned annexation of Ukrainian territories. Washington will never recognize such a step, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “The Kremlin’s sham referendums are a pointless attempt to cover up what is another attempt at land grabs in Ukraine,” Blinken said. The votes in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia do not reflect the will of the people and are just an illegitimate spectacle put on by Russian proxies in violation of international law.

The actions of Russia’s allies in Ukraine violate international law and are “an affront to the principles of international peace and international security,” said Blinken. The minister accused Moscow of forcing Ukrainian citizens to vote at gunpoint. He reiterated US President Joe Biden’s commitment that the US would support Ukraine for as long as needed. In view of the developments, the USA and its allies announced new sanctions against Russia and further support for Ukraine.

“Opposite of free and fair elections”

The government in Kyiv has described Russia’s latest steps as an outrageous land grab. In response, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an emergency meeting of his National Security Council for today.

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called the votes the opposite of free and fair elections. Russia is trying to dictate a peace. Baerbock said that people were “taken from their homes and from their workplaces” under threats and sometimes even at gunpoint and forced to cast their votes and put the ballot paper in a glass ballot box.

The UN Security Council in New York will vote today on a resolution condemning the sham referendums. This was announced by the French presidency of the highest UN body. The resolution, tabled by the US and Albania, has no chance of being passed because Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, can veto it. However, the text is likely to be presented later to the UN General Assembly.

Guterres: Annexation has no legal value

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned of a dangerous escalation in view of the planned annexation of further Ukrainian territory by Russia. In addition, it violates the United Nations Charter and has no legal value. The so-called referendums in the four regions could not be seen as a genuine expression of the will of the people. They had taken place during an armed conflict in areas under Russian occupation and outside the legal and constitutional framework of Ukraine.

Guterres referred to a statement made by the October 1970 General Assembly which said that gains of territory resulting from the threat or use of force were not recognized as lawful. Russia was outraged by Guterres’ comments. Guterres does not have the right to make political statements on behalf of the United Nations as a whole.

Putin signs decrees of independence

The Russian head of state Vladimir Putin had recognized the independence of the Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhia and Cherson. This emerges from published presidential decrees in which Putin orders recognition of “the state sovereignty and independence” of the two regions in southern Ukraine.

A ceremony is scheduled for today in Moscow, at which these two regions, as well as Luhansk and Donetsk, will be annexed. The four Ukrainian regions form an important land corridor between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014. Together with Crimea, they make up around 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory.

Moscow had already recognized the independence of the self-declared People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk a few days before the start of the military offensive on February 24. Sham referendums lasting several days ended last Tuesday in the four areas that the Ukrainian government and Western countries have rejected as illegal. According to the pro-Russian authorities there, in these “referendums” a large majority of the population agreed to incorporation into Russian territory.