They noted that draft Russian departmental orders explain the changes by Russia’s purported incorporation of Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories. The ministry stressed that Moscow is using such administrative decisions to create the appearance of a change in the internationally recognized status of Ukrainian territory, but that no such orders confer legitimacy or international recognition.
“In fact, this is not about ending border controls, but rather another attempt to erase the border between the territory of the aggressor state and the Ukrainian territory it occupies. Under the Kremlin’s plan, moving border controls to the outer boundaries of Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories is intended to create the appearance that the Ukrainian territories seized by Russia are supposedly an integral part of the Russian Federation and have been fully integrated into its administrative system,” the Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry stressed that Crimea, Sevastopol and the occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts remain part of Ukraine.
“It is telling that Moscow continues to change the wording of its own orders and draw new lines on maps, apparently expecting such steps to alter the legal status of Ukrainian territory. We can state with confidence that they cannot,” the ministry added.
Russia began taking steps to formally treat occupied Ukrainian territories as part of its state even before the full-scale invasion.
On Feb. 21, 2022, Vladimir Putin recognized the “independence” of the occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, the so-called “DPR” and “LPR,” and signed treaties on “friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance” with them. Three days later, on Feb. 24, 2022, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In September of that year, the Kremlin announced the illegal annexation of occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.