DPR, LPR, Kherson, Zaparozhye bills to be submitted to Duma on Sept 28
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If the peoples of the liberated territories voting on their accession to Russia approve of the referenda, they could become Russian territory as soon as September 30.
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The Russian State Duma in session, Moscow, Russia
Bills related to the accession of liberated Areas to Russia may be submitted to the State Duma on the evening of September 28, with lawmakers holding an emergency plenary session the following day to see if they should pass them, a source in the lower house of the Russian Federal Assembly told TASS on Saturday.
"After the votes will be counted at the referendums, the bills may be submitted on September 28 so that the Duma has enough time to pass them on September 29," the source told the Russian news agency.
If the majority of the regions' populations approve of their accession to Russia, international treaties would be submitted to the State Duma for ratification, as well as a draft federal constitutional law on the regions' accession to Russia.
The voting in the referenda on Russian accession of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as the Zaporozhye region, began early Friday.
The subject of having the referenda promptly was addressed earlier this week by the DPR and LPR public chambers, making official appeals to the rulers of their respective republics on Monday. A day later, the referendum dates were determined, and local legislatures overwhelmingly enacted referendum laws, while elections officials authorized the procedure.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Russia's formal recognition of the independence of the DPR and LPR in late February. This led to Ukraine escalating against the republics and using various tactics to try and undermine their leadership and hurt their civilians. That same month, Ukraine shelled a hospital in Donetsk and caused the death of eight civilians in another strike on the region.
New Russian territories under state protection: Lavrov
Any territory recognized by the Russian constitution as Russian territory falls under Moscow's full protection, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
"The entire territory of the Russian Federation, which is confirmed and can be further confirmed in the Russian Constitution, is certainly under the state’s full protection," Lavrov said.
"All laws, doctrines, concepts, strategies of the Russian Federation apply to its entire territory," he stressed.
All of the situations under which Russia can use nuclear weapons are clearly specified in the country's military doctrine, the Russian foreign minister underlined.
"As for the Russian Federation, the president and other Kremlin representatives have stated this on numerous occasions; we have our nuclear security doctrine. It is a document available to the public. Everything is written down in it. I invite you to look once again at absolutely clearly specified cases when our use of nuclear weapons is allowed," Lavrov added.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday that the United States is incapable of holding negotiations, and it is joining forces with its allies to push Kiev to move against Russia and its territories in an attempt to defeat Moscow.
Ryabkov said the US deliberately lowered the nuclear threshold, thus, posing threat to Russia's nuclear security.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had also accused the west of using the threat of nuclear weapons to blackmail Russia and warned that Moscow will use all means in case its territorial integrity is threatened.
Putin's words prompted US National Security Coordinator John Kirby to say his country took the Russian President's words about nuclear weapons use seriously, though he stressed that Washington saw no need to boost the readiness of its own strategic deterrent forces in the meantime.
The Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said Friday he wanted to believe his country and the United States were not yet on the verge of nuclear war despite there being many difficulties in their relations.
"With each day, that little, which still glimmers in contacts between the two countries, is fading away. I want to believe that despite all the difficulties, Americans and we are yet to be on the verge of a nuclear conflict," Antonov added.
Russia is still committed to the principle that there is no winner in the nuclear war so it should never be instigated, the ambassador stressed.
