BackPutin declares martial law in occupied parts of Ukraine. What it means?
Putin also imposed higher security in six regions of Russia near the Ukraine border, as well as Crimea, which he annexed in 2014
PremiumRussian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday declared martial law in the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow annexed and given additional emergency powers to the heads of all regions of Russia.
Putin told a meeting of Russia’s Security Council on Wednesday that existing military-law regimes in Ukraine’s Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions that he annexed last month should be extended in line with Russian law. In addition, he imposed higher security in six regions of Russia near the Ukraine border, as well as Crimea, which he annexed in 2014, underlining how his eight-month-old war has spread.
“We are working to solve very difficult large-scale tasks to ensure Russia's security and safe future, to protect our people," Putin said in televised remarks at the start of a Security Council meeting.
The order will come into effect on starting Thursday
How will the new law affect the regions?
The new rules impose limits on movement in and out of the regions, allow local authorities to relocate civilians away from combat zones and give increased powers to military officials.
Putin said Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will take charge of a new coordinating council to work on security issues nationally. Regional governors will also get broader powers to deal with security and support for families of reservists called up for military service, he said.
How Ukraine reacted to the new rule?
A Ukrainian presidential adviser dismissed Russian President Vladimir Putin's declaration of martial law in four occupied regions of Ukraine on Wednesday as the "pseudo-legalization of looting of Ukrainians’ property."
"'Martial law' implementation on the occupied territories by Russia should be considered only as a pseudo-legalization of looting of Ukrainians’ property by another 'regrouping'," the adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, wrote on Twitter.
"This does not change anything for Ukraine: we continue the liberation and deoccupation of our territories," he wrote.
Putin's order came on the day that Russian-installed officials in Kherson told civilians to leave some areas as soon as possible in anticipation of an imminent Ukrainian attack.
(With inputs from agencies)
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