On Tuesday, September 20, 2022 at 2:29:29 PM UTC, ltlee1 wrote:
According to the following polls, joining the Russia (annexation from Ukraine's point of view) is almost a certainty. What will the US do?
https://sputniknews.com/20220920/live-updates-turkish-deputy-fm-says-ankara-is-working-with-russia-on-extending-grain-deal-1100992221.html
"According to a survey conducted by the Crimean Republican Institute of Political and Sociological Studies (RIPSI), 94% of DPR residents, 93% in the LPR, 87% in Zaporozhye region in 80% in Kherson support the idea of joining the Russian Federation.
The head of the Zaporozhye regional administration, Yevgeny Balitsky, has said that there will be a referendum on joining Russia on September 23-27, and that an absolute majority of people wants to take part in the vote.
According to the latest INSOMAR poll, the majority of people in the LPR, DPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions would like to join Russia after the special military operation is over.
83 percent of people in the LPR, 80 percent in the DPR, 72 percent in Zaporozhye and 65 percent in Kherson intend to vote in a referendum to join Russia, as the poll held on September 19 reveals."
Strait Times explain a distinctly US view concerning the implication of the annexation.
"Who wants a referendum?
The self-styled Donetsk (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republics (LPR), which President Vladimir Putin recognised as independent states just before the invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24, have said they want referendums on joining Russia on Sept 23-27 - that
is this Friday to Tuesday.
The Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, which have yet to be recognised as independent states by Russia, have also said they will hold votes of their own.
Russia does not fully control any of the four regions, with only around 60 per cent of Donetsk region in Russian hands.
How much territory could Ukraine lose?
The territory that Russia does control amounts to more than 90,000 sq km, or about 15 per cent of Ukraine's total area - equal to the size of Hungary or Portugal.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. With Crimea and the territory in the four other regions, Russia would gain an area about the same size as the US state of Pennsylvania.
What's the significance?
If Russia goes ahead with the referendums and joins all four regions to Russia, then Ukraine - and potentially its Western backers too - would, from a Russian perspective, be fighting against Russia itself.
That would raise the risk of a direct military confrontation between Russia and the Nato military alliance, a scenario that President Joe Biden has said could lead to World War III, because Nato-members are supplying arms and giving intelligence to
Ukraine.
As such, a rushed Russian move to formally annex another big chunk of Ukrainian territory would be a major escalation just days after potentially the most significant Russian battlefield defeat of the war in north-eastern Ukraine."
The article accuses Russia of a major escalation?
Is it? It hinged on the the NATO's view concerning the recognized independent republic and regions.
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