Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that “we must take seriously Putin’s assertion that the longer the Ukrainian authorities continue to refuse negotiations, the more difficult the agreement will be,” RIA Novosti reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, during the ceremony of signing agreements on the accession to the Russian Federation of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, said that “Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions have become Russian regions”, noting that “the accession of four new subjects of the Russian Federation expresses the people’s will of millions”, noting that “the choice of millions of inhabitants of these regions is carried out after the catastrophe of the fragmentation of the Soviet Union”.

He emphasized that “the residents of Lugansk and Donetsk have become Russian citizens forever after being subjected to many years of blockade and hatred,” noting that “we will do everything to protect our lands, and the Kyiv regime must respect the will of the people. “