October 4, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree formally ruling out the possibility of negotiations with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The decree confirms "the impossibility of holding negotiations with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin," according the the Ukrainian Presidency’s website.

It is dated last Friday, the day that Putin announced he would illegally annex the four partially-occupied Ukrainian territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

The move came in response to Putin’s attempt at annexation, the post said.

"It takes two parties to negotiate," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday in response to Kyiv's decree.

He claimed that Russia had wanted to resolve matters "by peaceful diplomatic means" since before Moscow's attempt at a full-scale invasion in February.

"Now we will either wait for a change in the position of the current president, or we will wait for the future president of Ukraine, who will change his position in the interests of the Ukrainian people," Peskov added.

It comes as Russia's parliament formalizes the illegal annexation, in violation of international law. The move follows so-called referendums in the four Ukrainian regions held by Russian-backed leaders, which are illegal under international law and have been denounced by Ukraine and Western leaders as "sham."

More than 200,000 people have joined the Russian Armed Forces as part of the "partial mobilization" of citizens for Moscow's war in Ukraine, according Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Shoigu said the training of the new units will be conducted on special training grounds and training centers, Russian state outlet RIA Novosti reported Tuesday. Shoigu hasn't provided additional details about the newly mobilized personnel.

Some context: In September, Shoigu said the country would summon 300,000 reservists, after President Vladimir Putin announced increased military conscription.

The move sparked heated protests and an exodus of military age men amid draft fears. Russia's parliament also made amendments to the law on military service to toughen the punishment for violation of military service duties.

The laws on the illegal annexation of four regions in Ukraine will "most likely" be signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, according to the Kremlin's spokesperson. 

Earlier Tuesday, Russia's upper house of parliament approved unanimously the illegal accession of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Russia's lower house of parliament also voted unanimously for the four laws — one for each region — on Monday, according to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.

The procedure was expected to be a formality, as Putin and his allies effectively control both branches of the Russian legislature.

Some context: Putin said during a ceremony at the Kremlin on Friday that the millions of people living in the four territories would be Russian citizens "forever", as he announced the illegal annexation process in defiance of international law.

In recent weeks, Moscow-backed leaders in the four Ukrainian regions held so-called referendums on joining Russia. The ballots are illegal under international law and were dismissed by Ukraine and Western leaders as "sham."

Before Tuesday's vote in Russia's upper house of parliament on the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian territories, a Federation Council senator flagged that not all areas are fully under Moscow's control.

The Constitutional Court, which ruled that the incorporation of the four regions was in compliance with the Russian constitution, does not assess political matters or the line of contact on the ground, Senator Andrey Klishas, chair of the Federation Council committee on constitutional legislation, replied.

Klishas reiterated the Kremlin's position that Russian authorities intervened to protect the "human rights" of the residents of the four regions. 

After the discussion at the Federation Council, Narusova still voted for the laws. The Federation Council unanimously approved the accession of the four Ukrainian regions.

In the Federation Council, Narusova represents the Russian republic of Tuva, in southern Siberia. She is the mother of Ksenia Sobchak, a controversial public figure and a TV host, who ran for the presidency in 2018.

Some context: The formalization process of the illegal annexation is in violation of international law. It follows so-called referendums held by Russian-backed leaders across the Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in recent weeks. The ballots are illegal under international law and were condemned by Kyiv and its Western allies as "sham."

Russia's upper house of parliament unanimously sanctioned the accession of four Ukrainian regions into Russia on Tuesday in violation of international law. 

The Federation Council passed the constitutional laws on the illegal annexation of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. 

The lower house, the State Duma, also voted unanimously to authorize the illegal annexation on Monday, Russia's state-run TASS news agency reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies effectively control both branches of the Russian legislature, and the space for political dissent in Russia has shrunk in recent years.

The four accession documents — one for each of the regions — will now head to Putin's desk.

According to the laws, residents of the new entities were recognized as Russian citizens starting on September 30, when the formal agreements of accession between the Russian Federation and the four regions were signed in the Kremlin's St George's Hall.

Following the results of so-called referendums, Putin made a formal speech at the ceremony on Friday, declaring that the millions of people living in the four regions would be Russian citizens "forever."

Russian-backed leaders held votes across the four regions in recent weeks. The ballots are illegal under international law and were dismissed by Kyiv and Western leaders as a "sham."

The residents of the new regions can acquire Russian citizenship by submitting applications and being sworn in as Russian citizens, according to TASS. 

According to the laws, the DPR and the LPR will retain their status as republics after joining Russia and Russian will be their official language. The Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions will also join Russia as constituent entities and will continue to be called "regions," TASS reported.

The borders of the republics and regions will be the same as those that existed on the day of their creation and accession into Russia, and their borders with other countries will be regarded as Russia’s state borders, according to TASS.

The DPR and the LPR are joining Russia under the 2014 borders described in their "constitutions," according to TASS. 

The movements in Russia's parliament contradict the state of the war on the ground in Ukraine, where Kyiv has made sweeping gains in the east and the south of the country and forced Moscow to retreat from several positions in areas the Kremlin declared it is annexing.

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Vladimir Putin “today’s era is not of war” last month, the West welcomed his comments as a sign the world’s largest democracy was finally coming off the fence about Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron praised Modi and the White House lauded what it called a “statement of principle.”

But the reality, analysts say, is less straightforward.

Rather than cutting economic ties with the Kremlin, India has undermined Western sanctions by increasing its purchases of Russian oil, coal and fertilizer – giving Putin a vital financial lifeline.

New Delhi has repeatedly abstained from votes condemning Russia at the United Nations – providing Moscow with a veneer of international legitimacy. And in August, India participated in Russia’s large-scale Vostok military exercises alongside China, Belarus, Mongolia and Tajikistan — where Moscow paraded its vast arsenal.

Last week, India abstained from another UN draft resolution condemning Russia over its sham referendums in four regions of Ukraine, which have been used as a pretext by Moscow to illegally annex Ukrainian territory — significantly upping the stakes in the war.

India is “deeply disturbed” by the developments in Ukraine, said Ruchira Kamboj, New Delhi’s permanent representative to the UN, but stopped short of attributing blame and urged an “immediate ceasefire and resolution of the conflict.”

This apparent contradiction exemplifies India’s unique position on the war: verbally distancing itself from Russia, while continuing to maintain pivotal ties with Moscow.

Modi’s “stronger language to Putin” should be seen in the context of rising food, fuel and fertilizer prices, and the “hardships that was creating for other countries,” said Deepa Ollapally, research professor and director of the Rising Powers Initiative at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University.

Read the full analysis here.

Elon Musk drew backlash on Monday from Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his unsolicited advice on how to bring about “peace” amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country.

In a Twitter poll, Musk suggested a path to “Ukraine-Russia Peace” that included re-doing elections “under UN supervision” in the regions of the country recently annexed illegally by Russia. The land grab, covering nearly a fifth of Ukraine, followed referendums that have been widely dismissed as “shams” by much of the world.

The billionaire Tesla CEO also suggested making Crimea, a region Russia invaded and annexed from Ukraine in 2014, “formally part of Russia.” He added in bullet points: “Water supply to Crimea assured” and “Ukraine remains neutral.”

Ukraine and most of the world reject any implication of Russian sovereignty over the regions it has invaded, and Ukraine has vowed to take back its land.

“It started in Crimea, and it will end in Crimea, and this will be an effective revival of the international legal order,” Zelensky told the Crimea Platform summit in August. Zelensky has consistently maintained that Ukraine will not cede any of its territory to Russia.

A majority of respondents on Twitter voted “No” in response to Musk’s poll. In a follow-up tweet, Musk appeared to blame these results on a “bot attack.”

Read more here.

Russian authorities have removed the commander of the country's Western Military District (WMD), according to records from its Unified State Registry published Monday.

The Unified State Registry, which functions as a state record of all registered legal entitles, has listed Col. Gen. Roman Berdnikov as the new commander of the Western Military District. It comes as Russian forces have pulled out from many parts of eastern Ukraine. 

The WMD, based in western Russia, is one of five Russian military districts. It played a significant role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Berdnikov replaces Col. Gen. Alexander Zhuravlyov, who has also been a commander in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, where Russian forces suffered heavy losses in past weeks. Bednikov’s appointment comes on the heels of the Russian retreat from the strategic eastern city of Lyman, in the Donetsk region.

More on the former commander: Zhuravlyov, known for overseeing one of the most brutal chapters of Syria’s war, also oversaw a rocket artillery brigade, whom CNN identified launching cluster munitions attacks in residential districts of Kharkiv in late February, during the early days of the war.

Russian officials have criticized the country’s military leadership following the retreat in Lyman. Lawmaker and former army commander Andrei Gurulev said he could not explain this “surrender” from a military point of view, speaking on Soloviev Live, a pro-Kremlin TV channel on Saturday.

Berdnikov graduated from the Kyiv Suvorov Military School in 1991 and from the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School in 1995.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has yet to confirm the leadership change at the Western Military District.

The European Union has summoned in a "coordinated manner” the Russian ambassadors in EU member states following Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision last week to annex Ukrainian regions, an EU spokesperson told CNN Monday. 

Stano said the move aims to “convey strong condemnation of these actions” and demand the “immediate halt to steps undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity and violating UN Charter and international law.”

The summoning started on Friday last week, according to Stano. The Russian ambassador to the EU was summoned in Brussels Monday afternoon, he added.