In an apparent move toward the annexation of eastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed legislation that makes it easier for residents of separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine to become Russian citizens.
While Putin stated he did not want to create problems for Ukrainian president-elect Volodymyr Zelenskiy and was merely acting to protect the people in Donetsk and the Luhansk republic because they “are generally deprived of any civil rights,” the move was slammed by Zelenskiy’s office, which called it “another evident confirmation for the world community of Russia’s true role as an aggressor state, which is waging a war against Ukraine”
The US State Department also criticized the directive, saying that “Russia, through this highly provocative action, is intensifying its assault on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Read more: Russia offers passports to east Ukraine, president-elect decries ‘aggressor state’
