Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday darkly hinted at the prospect of a nuclear war in an unhinged rant aimed at the “satanic” West, as he officially annexed four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by his beleaguered forces.
The Kremlin strongman vowed at a ceremony formalizing the annexation to protect the newly incorporated territories using “all available means” — and said Ukrainians living in the regions are “our citizens forever.”
“This is the will of millions of people,” he told hundreds of dignitaries in the opulent St George’s Hall of the Kremlin. “People living in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson region and Zaporizhzhia region are becoming our compatriots forever.”
At the event that Kyiv dismissed as a “Kremlin freak show” devoid of legal meaning, Putin delivered a 37-minute invective claiming the US of starting a “precedent” by using nuclear weapons against Japan in World War II.
The Kremlin strongman also alleged that the West has sabotaged the Russia-built gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea.
Putin claimed that the “Anglo-Saxons” in the West have turned from sanctions on Russia to “terror attacks,” sabotaging the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in what he described as an attempt to “destroy the European energy infrastructure.”
He added that “those who profit from it have done it,” without naming a specific country.
The Russian tyrant also accused the West of “sheer satanism” for turning away from “moral norms” and “religious” values. At one point, he asked his assembled cronies if they wanted “children to be offered sex-change operations.”
Putin’s scathing address was followed by the signing the treaty documents with the Russian-backed heads of the four annexed regions: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
They then all clasped hands and chanted “Russia! Russia!” in unison with hundreds of guests, who rose in a standing ovation.
The ceremony took place three days after the completion of hastily staged so-called referendums in which Moscow’s proxies in the occupied regions claimed majorities of up to 99% in favor of joining Russia.
Both houses of the Kremlin-controlled Russian parliament will meet next week to rubber-stamp the treaties for the regions to join Russia, sending them to Putin for his approval.
Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelensky responded to the annexation declaration by announcing that his country was formally applying for fast-track membership of NATO, which Russia views as a hostile military alliance.
In a video speech, Zelensky accused Russia of brazenly rewriting history and redrawing borders “using murder, blackmail, mistreatment and lies,” something he said Kyiv would not allow.
He said however that Kyiv remained committed to the idea of co-existence with Russia “on equal, honest, dignified and fair conditions.”
“Clearly, with this Russian president it is impossible. He does not know what dignity and honesty are. Therefore, we are ready for a dialog with Russia, but with another president of Russia,” he added.