Moscow, Sep 30 (EFE).- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday congratulated the Russian people on the anniversary of the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Luhansk, an event he described as “defining and truly historic” for the country.
“A year ago, on September 30, a defining and truly historic event took place when agreements were signed to incorporate four new constituent entities into the Russian Federation,” Putin said in a statement published on the Kremlin website.
“Millions of residents of Donbass (Donetsk and Luhansk) and the Kherson and Zaporozhye (Zaporizhia) regions made their choice to be with their Fatherland,” he added.
“People showed courage and integrity in the face of attempts to intimidate and deprive them of their right to determine their own future, their destiny, and to take away something every person values, namely, culture, traditions, and mother tongue, in a word, everything that was loathed by nationalists and their Western patrons who orchestrated a coup in Kiev in 2014 and then unleashed a full-scale civil war,” he further said.
Putin stressed that “nothing and no one can break the will of millions of people, or their belief in truth and historical justice.”
“By defending our compatriots in Donbass and Novorossiya (Kherson and Zaporizhia), we are defending Russia itself. Together, we are fighting for the Motherland, for our sovereignty, spiritual values, unity, and victory,” the president said.
At the request of the Russian president, from this year onwards, Sep. 30 is to be celebrated as the Day of Reunification with the people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk and the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia.
The annexation of these territories in the east and south of Ukraine came after alleged pseudo-referendums not recognized by most of the international community. EFE
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