The president said Moscow had protected people living on ‘ancestral Russian land’
Moscow is proud to have accepted four former Ukrainian regions into Russia, President Vladimir Putin has said.
The Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, as well as the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye, voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia in referendums held in September 2022.
In a video address released by the Kremlin on Tuesday, Putin described the territory as “ancestral Russian land,” whose population “had independently and freely chosen to join Russia.”
“We have done what we had to do, and we are proud of it. We offered support to our brothers and sisters in making their firm, responsible choice,” Putin said.
He added that Russia was “defending its core national interests, shared memory and values, the Russian language, traditions, culture, and faith, and the sacred right to honor the deeds of its ancestors.”
The predominantly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Lugansk voted to declare independence following the 2014 Western-backed coup in Kiev. Crimea voted to join Russia the same year. Since then, Ukraine has passed several laws restricting the use of Russian in workplaces, education, and the media, and has led a campaign to erase historic ties to the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.
Ukraine and most countries refuse to recognize Russia’s new borders, while Ukrainian forces continue to occupy parts of the regions.
