Moscow can safely disregard Western criticism of its decision to incorporate the Donbass, Kherson and Zaporozhye into Russia, as the people who live in these territories consider themselves Russians, Scott Ritter says.
“There's no doubt that the Russian decision to 'annex' these four territories was greeted with controversy around the world, especially by those nations that constitute the so-called collective West, who have turned the Russian conflict with Ukraine into a proxy war between Russia and the collective West, the goal of which…is the destruction of Russia,” Ritter told Sputnik.
“What I can say is, after having gone through these territories, met with the political leadership of these territories, the economic drivers in these territories and the people who live there, these are Russian territories. And the people that live in these territories are Russians in their hearts, in their souls,” he added.
“It doesn't matter what the collective West thinks. There's nothing that's going to happen, that's going to change this reality. And the sooner the collective West can come to the realization that Kherson, Zaporozhye, Donetsk and Lugansk in their totality are Russian territories, part of the Russian Federation, the sooner this nightmare conflict that the West is brought upon itself can be resolved,” Ritter emphasized.
The Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and much of Kherson and Zaporozhye became part of Russia the fall of 2022 after referendums on their status organized in September of that year.
Russia has allocated significant resources to the new regions, including for reconstruction of areas damaged over the course of the ongoing conflict with the NATO-sponsored Ukrainian army, with nearly 90 percent of the population of the new regions receiving Russian passports in 2023 and the government taking steps to incorporate them into Russia’s legal system. Well over 90 percent of residents in Donetsk and Lugansk, 87 percent of residents of Kherson, and 93 percent of residents in Zaporozhye voted in favor of breaking off from Ukraine and becoming part of Russia, with voter turnout ranging from 76.86 percent to 97.51 percent.
The four regions withstood a large-scale Ukrainian counteroffensive last summer, with the country’s US and European armed and trained forces failing to break through Russian defensive positions and suffering horrific losses in the process.