Russian parliament to consider legal steps to absorb Ukrainian regions

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s parliament will consider on Monday bills and ratification treaties to absorb four Ukrainian regions, RIA Novosti news agency cited the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, as saying on Sunday.

President Vladimir Putin proclaimed Russia’s annexation of a swathe of Ukraine in a pomp-filled Kremlin ceremony on Friday, promising Moscow would triumph in its “special military operation”.

Russia declared the annexations of the regions – including Zaporizhzhia, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – after holding what it called referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine. Western governments and Kyiv said the votes breached international law and were coercive and non-representative.

Separately the Russian Constitutional Court ruled on Sunday that the “international treaties” on the incorporation of the four regions to be in compliance with the Russian constitution.

The court also said the transition period on integration would last until Jan. 1 2026.

Russian news agencies reported that Putin appointed senior lawmakers, Andrey Klishas and Pavel Krasheninnikov, as his representatives at parliament’s deliberations regarding the integration of the regions.

Interfax news agency, citing Krasheninnikov, said people in new territories will acquire Russian citizenship after the oath of allegiance, while the rouble will be the legal tender there, though settlements in Ukrainian hryvnias will be possible before Dec. 31 2022.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)