Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, called for peace talks with Kyiv as he announced the formal annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Friday.
Speaking to hundreds of Russia’s top politicians in the Kremlin’s lavish St George's Hall, Putin said voters in the referendums had made “an unequivocal choice” to join the Russian Federation.
“We suggest returning to the talks but we’re not going to discuss the choice that people there have made, and Russia is not going to betray it,” he said.
Kyiv and the West have dismissed the votes in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as a sham, but Putin said those living in the four regions “are becoming our citizens for good”.
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