Moscow pledges full protection to any area annexed by Russia

Russia Parliament May Move To Formalise Annexation By Thursday

Russia has sought to defend its seven-month-old ign minister Sergei Lavrov saying that regions of Ukraine where widely-derided referendums are being held would be under Russia's "full protection" if annexed by Moscow.

The referendums in four eastern Ukrainian regions, aimed at annexing territory Russia has taken by force since its invasion in February, were being staged for a third day on Sunday and the Russian parliament could move to formalise the annexation within days.

By incorporating the four areas of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia into Russia, Moscow could portray attacks to retake them as an attack on Russia itself, a warning to Kyiv and its Western allies. The Russian annexations raise the risk of a direct military confrontation between Russia and the Nato military alliance as Western arms are being used by Ukrainian troops. Ukraine and its allies have dismissed the referendums as a sham designed to justify an escalation of the war.

Addressing the UN General Assembly and the world's media in New York on Saturday, Lavrov sought to justify Russia's invasion of its neighbour, repeating Moscow's false claims that the elected government in Kyiv was illegitimately installed and filled with neoNazis. He cast opposition to what Russia calls a "special operation" as limited to the US and countries under its sway.