The official signing ceremony of the agreements of accession of the four new territories to the Russian Federation will be held in St. George’s Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace at 15:00 local time, Peskov added.

According to the official, President Vladimir Putin will deliver a major speech during the ceremony and will meet with the heads of these territories that will become part of Russia.

The self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, previously recognized by Moscow as independent states, and the Ukrainian provinces of Kherson and Zaporozhie, safeguarded by Russian troops, held referendums on accession to Russia from September 23 to 27.

In these consultations, held despite constant artillery attacks by Kiev forces on settlements and towns in the four regions, the proposal for accession to Russia won by an overwhelming majority.

In calling the plebiscites, the four territories claimed that joining Russia would protect them from ‘terrorist acts’ by Ukraine and NATO which supplies it with weapons ‘to murder civilians’. 

mh/ale/gfa