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Voting on accession to Russia

Donbass, other territories had humanitarian reasons to quit Ukraine — upper house speaker

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions have signed agreements on the accession of these territories to Russia

MOSCOW, September 30. /TASS/. The DPR, LPR, and the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions had the right to secede from Ukraine not only on the basis of the UN Charter, but also for humanitarian reasons, Russia’s Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the heads of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions have signed agreements on the accession of these territories to Russia. The ceremony took place in the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace on Friday.

"First of all, this is convincing evidence of the inevitability of the return of Donetsk, Lugansk, and Novorossiya to Russia. Not only because they have the legitimate right to self-determination, which is enshrined in the UN Charter. I would say that the territories also have the right to secede for humanitarian reasons," Matviyenko said on the Rossiya-24 TV news channel.

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Voting on accession to Russia

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US State Department insists DPRK troops engaged in Russia’s borderline Kursk Region

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Actions of those seeking to stage coup in Abkhazia harming relations with Russia

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Blast occurs at Udmurtia facility, preliminarily due to drone

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China receives first batch of Russian S-400 missile systems — source

Russia’s S-400 Triumf is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, including medium-range missiles, and surface targets

Canadian PM on Putin-Scholz talks: Ending Ukraine crisis requires `a level of engagement’

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Russian missile frigate enters Mediterranean Sea in long-distance deployment

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Ukrainian people don't need support promised by Scholz after talks with Putin — Lavrov

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Russian helicopters notable for high reliability — company

Russian helicopters in China are mainly used by the Ministry of Emergency Situations for aviation protection of forests, rescuing in earthquakes and elimination of consequences of natural disasters

Swedish minister in charge of gender equality suffers from bananaphobia

The phobia is so strong that special precautions need to be taken before her meetings

Lavrov outlines Moscow’s approach to Ukrainian crisis during visit to UAE — ministry

Lavrov arrived in Abu Dhabi to take part in the Sir Bani Yas international peace and security forum

IN BRIEF: What is known about situation in Abkhazia

In order to stabilize the situation, President Aslan Bzhania decided to withdraw from the parliament a bill on the ratification of the agreement with Russia on the implementation of investment projects by Russian legal entities on the territory of the republic

Georgia’s ruling party scores 53.93% in elections, wins 89 mandates — CEC results

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54 countries vote against resolution on combating ne-Nazism

116 countries, including Azerbaijan, Algeria, Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Serbia, and Syria, supported the document

German defense minister calls for trying to build dialogue with Russia on Ukraine

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Bzhania says he remains Abkhazia’s elected president

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Clear Zelensky won't be the one to decide about talks with Russia, says Lavrov

"Russian President Putin has repeatedly said that we have never refused to negotiate," the Russian foreign minister reiterated

Turkey does not consider pullout from NATO — Erdogan’s party

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Ukrainian intel officers in Syria to be eliminated as terrorists’ accomplices — diplomat

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FACTBOX: Abkhazian leader leaves capital amid opposition’s demands for polls

TASS compiled main facts about the situation in the country