Europe 1 with AFP 3:01 p.m., September 30, 2022

"Today we are signing an agreement on the integration" of the four Ukrainian regions into Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech delivered a few days after the annexation referendums.

The master of the Kremlin asked Ukraine to cease hostilities, and accused the West of being behind the explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his speech to the country's political elite in the Kremlin on Friday on the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, following "referendums" widely denounced by kyiv and its Western allies.

"Today we are signing an agreement on the integration" of these regions into Russia, Vladimir Putin declared before the government, deputies and senators, and other representatives of the Russian state.

Ukraine must "immediately cease hostilities"

Then Vladimir Putin called on Ukraine to "immediately cease hostilities" and to negotiate.

In his speech, the master of the Kremlin affirmed that the inhabitants of the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine annexed by Russia will be “our citizens forever”.

“People voted for our common future,” he added.

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Making Russia a "colony", Nord Stream... Putin attacks the West

The Russian president also addressed some criticism of the West, which he accuses of wanting to make Russia a "colony".

"The West is ready to do anything to preserve the neocolonial system which allows it to parasitize and, in reality, to plunder the whole world", denounced the Russian president in front of the political elite.

"They want to see us as a colony," he castigated.

He also accused Westerners of being behind the explosions that caused the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines to leak.

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Putin sweeps away the return of the USSR

At the heart of his speech, Vladimir Putin assured that his country "does not aspire" to restore the USSR, despite the offensive in Ukraine and the annexation of four Ukrainian regions following "referendums" denounced by kyiv and the West.

"The USSR is gone, the past can't be brought back. And Russia doesn't need that today, we don't aspire to it," he said.