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30th September 2022
05:18pm BST

The president said he wants everyone in Kyiv and the West to hear that those in the Donbas region will become Russian citizens forever, and that Kyiv authorities should "take this expression of will with great respect".
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Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Moscow-appointed heads of four Ukrainian regions at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia on September 30, 2022 (Image: Getty)[/caption]
He claimed the West is trying to take over Russia, honing in on the US and Britain. He also claimed the energy crisis has been created by "many years of wrong policies" that happened way before the war in Ukraine.
The president then signed the documents, before the audience applauded and chanted: "Russia! Russia! Russia!"
https://twitter.com/antonioguterres/status/1575548965189214208 Speaking the day before the ceremony, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that Putin's plan marked a "dangerous escalation" that would jeopardise any hope of peace in the region.He said: "Any decision to proceed with the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned.
"The Russian Federation, as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, shares a particular responsibility to respect the Charter," he added.
A celebration and concert is due to take place near Red Square in central Moscow this evening, with people reportedly being paid to attend.
The annexation documents will have to go through the Russian legal process of approval, which is expected to be complete by October 4. But the international community has already made it very clear the documents will not be recognised.
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