New administrator should be determined: Kremlin plans large "Crimean district" after annexation?

Putin’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula is popular in Russia. Occupied areas in Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Cherson are also to be quickly incorporated by referendum. A newspaper reports that they could all be combined into a new “Crimean district”.

According to a newspaper report, after the sham referendums in the occupied Ukrainian territories, Russia apparently already has concrete plans for their incorporation into the Russian Federation. The Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported that the formation of a new federal “Crimean district” was planned, citing sources in the Federation Council. This district should include the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed in 2014, as well as the occupied parts of the Cherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The new head of administration should be Dmitri Rogozin, who was replaced as head of the Roskosmos space agency in July, it said. The media had already speculated in July that the hardliner and nationalist could become one of the Kremlin curators in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. The newspaper quoted a source as saying that because of the “difficult situation” surrounding the referendums, a “political heavyweight” was needed to take over the administration.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to questions from journalists that if decisions were made to establish a new federal district, the Kremlin would inform about it. “We never announce such presidential decrees or personnel decisions,” he was quoted as saying by the Interfax agency.

However, the legal system and the executive are ready to accept new subjects into the federation after the votes in the regions. Legally and from the point of view of international law, the situation will change “cardinally”. The sham referendums, which have been criticized internationally as a breach of international law, should end on Tuesday. The Kremlin had announced that the occupied territories could be included quickly. There is speculation that President Vladimir Putin could address the nation in a speech this Friday.

In the case of the Crimean peninsula, too, the annexation was carried out at high speed: on February 27, 2014, Russian troops took control of the area. The referendum on joining Russia was held on March 16. On March 21, Crimea was formally admitted to the Russian Federation.