The Kremlin is considering several scenarios for the newly-occupied territory of Ukraine’s south. Among the major options are a quasi-state formation and the immediate annexation of the region by Russia. The first option is identical to the Russian model imposed in the occupied parts of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk provinces which Russia calls “people’s republics.” The second mirrors the Russian actions in Crimea back in 2014, according to Euromaidan Press.
The restoration of Russian statehood would fit with President Vladimir Putin’s distorted narrative that Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions belong to Russia – an area labelled Novorossiya – having been part of the Russian empire in the 18th and 19th centuries, the FT said.
