U.S Says Will 'Never' Recognize Any Annexed Ukrainian Territory As Belonging To Russia

Washington on Friday made it clear that it will 'never' recognize any purported annexed Ukrainian territory as belonging to Russia, TURAN's U.S. correspondent reports.

"Any purported annexation is illegal, illegitimate, and, frankly, ridiculous. It would be a gross violation of the UN Charter and we will not allow it to go unchallenged," a senior Biden administration official told reporters during a teleconference.

Washington suspects that Russia is planning to hold sham referendums on joining Russia in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics.

"Russian leadership has instructed officials to begin preparing to hold these referenda in parts of Kharkiv as well," the official said, referring to intelligence reports.

The move came as senior Russian officials including former President Medvedev were seen in Luhansk on Friday, following an increasing number of articles in the Russian media about plans for Moscow to take this step of annexation.

As the Kremlin prepares for the referenda, Washington says, it has information that Russian officials are vetting candidates to serve as administrators of these territories, and that this – these moves could take place as soon as in the coming weeks,

"Our information indicates that Russian officials are concerned that there will be low voter turnout in these referenda, likely because of the damage that Russia has caused to Ukraine and the widespread local opposition to Russian occupation,"  the official said.

In other words, U.S. intelligence indicates that Russian officials themselves know that what they are doing will lack legitimacy and will not reflect the will of the people. "These Russian officials are absolutely correct.  We expect that Russia will manipulate the results of these referenda in order to falsely claim that the Ukrainian people want to join Russia.  It’ll be critical to call out and counter this disinformation as it’s happening," the U.S official said.

Per the U.S.' position, any claim by the Kremlin that the Ukrainian people somehow want to join Russia is "simply not true," and as the official put it, "we have ample data to reflect this. There is a consensus in Ukraine among the Ukrainian people that they oppose these moves by Russia and they oppose Russian aggression."

According to a June poll conducted by the University of Chicago, 97 percent of Ukrainians say Ukraine’s – Russia’s invasion is a major threat to Ukraine’s security, and 97 percent want Russia to compensate Ukraine for the destruction it has caused by this conflict.  Another poll, conducted by the IRI in April, shows that more than 90 percent of Ukrainians say their opinion of Russia has worsened since the February 24th invasion.  And the NDI in a May Poll found that just 3 percent of Ukrainians say that they would like Ukraine to be a member of the Russia-led Eurasian Customs Union, and 90 percent want – want Ukraine to become a member state of the EU. 

"The data are straightforward. The Ukrainian people in any free and fair referendum would vote overwhelmingly against joining Russia, and I would point out that surveys in the particular regions that we’re talking about, such as Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, reflect the broader trends of these – of these polls," the U.S, official said, adding that any Russia-orchestrated referenda will not be free and fair: "Russia will distort and manipulate the results, and we know the truth."

Asked by TURAN about the timing of Moscow's referendum plans, as Russia's Defense Ministry plans to hold strategic military exercises in August-early Sep, the senior U.S. official said Moscow "is probably trying to project an image of normalcy, and they are entitled to conduct exercises on their territory whenever they please."  "But we don’t particularly see that as – particularly one planned for the far east as having an impact one way or the other on the Ukrainian conflict," the official added.

Alex Raufoglu

Washington D.C.