MOSCOW, September 28. /TASS/. A counterterrorism operation will be introduced in the Zaporozhye Region after it becomes part of Russia following the results of the referendum, Vladimir Rogov, chairman of the We Are Together with Russia movement, said on Wednesday.
"The principle is simple, as now that we are at last becoming a Russian region de jure, it is obvious that the special military operation is transforming into an anti-terrorism operation," he said on Radio Russia.
Rogov was hopeful that such organizations as the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and Ukraine’s Security Service would be legally recognized as terrorist ones in Russia.
On Monday, Sergey Aksyonov, Crimea’s head, wrote on his Telegram channel that once the Donbass republics and the liberated areas of the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions join Russia, the special military operation will de facto turn into a counterterrorism operation, pointing out that "gaining a new status for the liberated areas will put an end to uncertainty."
From September 22-27, the DPR and LPR along with the Kherson Region and liberated areas of the Zaporozhye Region held referendums on joining Russia. In the DPR, 99.23% of the voters supported the republic becoming part of Russia, with voter turnout at 97.51%. In the LPR, 98.42% voters said yes in the referendum, with voter turnout at 94.15%. In the Zaporozhye Region, 93.11% voted in favor of joining Russia, and 87,05% voted ‘yay’ in the Kherson region, where voter turnout was 78,86%.