Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered the establishment of martial law in the four Ukrainian territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia annexed in September by Moscow.
Mr. Putin announced this measure during a meeting of his Security Council broadcast on television. The Kremlin then issued a decree confirming the entry into force of martial law in these territories from Thursday midnight local time.
These territories “had established martial law before their attachment to the Russian Federation, but it is necessary to formalize this regime by following Russian legislation”, declared Vladimir Putin.
He justified this measure by saying that kyiv refused to negotiate with Moscow and continued according to him to “bombard” the civilian population in these regions.
“The neo-Nazis (Ukrainians) openly use terrorist methods (…) They send groups of saboteurs to our territory”, he added, denouncing in particular the attack on the Crimean bridge and “nuclear infrastructures “, without specifying which ones.
According to the decree, the Russian government must within three days propose concrete measures to be applied in these territories.
Russian legislation provides for a series of measures in the event of the establishment of martial law: reinforcement of security measures, curfew, ban on public gatherings, evacuation of strategic companies, ban on leaving the territories concerned, internment of the population, establishment of military censorship in telecommunications, etc.
The decree also establishes a reinforced security regime, qualified as a “medium-level reaction regime”, in the Crimean peninsula annexed in 2014, as well as in the Russian regions of Krasnodar, Rostov, Belgorod, Briansk, Voronezh and Kursk, located close to Ukraine.
In the central federal district, where the capital Moscow is located, a reinforced alert regime is also established, according to this decree.