MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2023) Russia wants to have control over territory that is Russian under the country's constitution, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked if Moscow "sought more Ukrainian territory."
"No. We just want to control all the land we have now written into our Constitution as ours," Peskov was quoted as saying by The New York Times.
Russia launched its special military operation on February 24, 2022. It was in response to requests from the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR, LPR) to protect them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
In September 2022, the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions voted to join Russia through referenda. According to the results of processing 100% of the ballots, in the DPR 99.23% of voters were in favor of joining Russia, in the LPR � 98.42%, in the Kherson Region � 87.05%, and 93.11% in the Zaporizhzhia Region. After the referendums, Putin signed agreements with the heads of the regions on their accession to Russia, as well as a Federal law ratifying these agreements. On October 6, 2022, the text of the updated Russian constitution was published, in which the DPR, LPR, Zaporizhizhia and Kherson regions were indicated as part of Russia.
