America, Europe Sanction Russia Over Annexation Of Ukrainian Territories, As Putin Accuses The West Of Pushing LGBTQ Degeneracy On Children

Keneci Channel

Vladimir Putin signed treaties Friday, declaring the annexation of more occupied Ukrainian regions -- Kherson, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk – or 15 percent of the country. Referenda which the West decried as illegitimate, were taken in those oblasts.

The Kremlin has backed eastern Ukraine’s separatist Donetsk and Luhansk regions since they declared independence in 2014, weeks after Moscow's annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Russia captured the southern Kherson region and part of neighboring Zaporizhzhia soon after Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

At his signing ceremony in the Kremlin’s ornate St. George’s Hall, Putin accused the West of fueling the hostilities to turn Russia into a “colony” and a “crowd of soulless slaves.”

Putin also accused the “Anglo Saxons” — a term Russian officials use to refer to the U.S. and Britain -- of sabotaging the Russia-built Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea to Germany. The pipelines were recently damaged in a remote-explosion attack.

During the 37-minute televised address in St. George’s Hall, Putin decried “Satanism” in the U.S., decrying the transgender propaganda. “The repression of freedom is taking on the outlines of a ‘reverse religion,’ of real Satanism,” he said, suggesting that the LGBTQ degeneracy is a “denial of man.” To “all citizens of Russia" he asked, “Do we really want to see perversions that lead to degradation and extinction be imposed on children in our schools from the earliest years, for it to be drilled into them that there are supposedly some genders besides women and men, and offered the chance to undergo sex-change operations?”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy then held his own signing ceremony in Kyiv, releasing video of him putting pen to papers he said were a formal NATO membership request. He said there’d be no negotiations with Putin. “We are ready for a dialogue with Russia, but … with another president of Russia,” he said.

Western leaders responded with an avalanche of condemnation. United State and the United Kingdom announced more sanctions.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement: “The UK utterly condemns Putin’s announcement of the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. We will never recognize the results of these sham referendums or any annexation of Ukrainian territory. The Russian regime must be held to account for this abhorrent violation of international law. That’s why we are working with our international partners to ramp up the economic pressure through new targeted services bans.”

New services and goods export bans, targeted at vulnerable sectors of the Russian economy, were announced by the Foreign Secretary on Friday.

Russia imports 67% of its services from sanctioning countries. Building on previous sanctions, the UK will prevent Russian access to: IT consultancy services, architectural services, engineering services, advertising services, transactional, legal advisory services and auditing services. These are major western services that the country depends on, including: IT consultancy, architectural services, engineering services, and transactional legal advisory services for certain commercial activity.

The UK also bans the export of nearly 700 goods that are crucial to Russia’s industrial and technological capabilities.

U.S. President Joe Biden said of Putin’s annexation announcement: “Make no mistake: These actions have no legitimacy.” He added, “America and its allies are not going to be intimidated by Putin and his reckless words and threats.”

Biden announced that the United States and its allies will sanction Russia over Friday’s move. “In response to Russia’s phony claims of annexation, the United States, together with our Allies and partners, are announcing new sanctions today,” he said. “These sanctions will impose costs on individuals and entities — inside and outside of Russia -- that provide political or economic support to illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory.”

The European Union said its 27 member states will never recognize the illegal referendums that Russia organized “as a pretext for this further violation of Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called Kremlin's action, “the largest attempted annexation of European territory by force since the Second World War.”

He said the war is at “a pivotal moment,” and marks “the most serious escalation since the start of the war.” Stoltenberg was noncommittal on Zelenskyy’s fast-track NATO application, saying alliance leaders “support Ukraine’s right to choose its own path, to decide what kind of security arrangements it wants to be part of.”

Speaking to reporters on Friday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Ukraine's request for rapid ascension into NATO, "should be taken up at a different time" because "our view is that the best way for us to support Ukraine is through practical on the ground support in Ukraine."