Sputnik goes live as the Russian State Duma (the lower house of Russia's legislature) is considering the ratification of the agreements to admit the Donetsk and Lugansk republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson to the Russian Federation at a plenary session.
The Duma will also consider the adoption of a federal constitutional law on the admission of new subjects to Russia.
On September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, signed agreements on the accession of the territories to Russia and the formation of new subjects within the country, following referenda results that showed that an overwhelming majority of the local population, exhausted by the intensifying attacks of Ukrainian forces, supported joining Russia.
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