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Russia vows to keep consulting people in Kherson, Zaporozhye Regions over their borders

Commenting on whether the borders would be fixed by the time Russian President Vladimir Putin signs corresponding laws, Dmitry Peskov said he thought the wording on the borders would remain the same

MOSCOW, October 3. /TASS/. Russia will continue consulting the people in the Zaporozhye and the Kherson Regions over the borders which now belong to Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

"The LPR and the DPR [maintain] their 2014 borders. As for Kherson and Zaporozhye, we will continue consulting the populations of those regions," Peskov said, when asked to comment on the borders of the two regions which now demarcate Russia.

The Russian presidential spokesman refused to say who possesses these territories, which are still controlled by Ukrainian forces. "Which ones exactly? I have nothing to add on this [issue]," Peskov concluded.

He said that there were no plans to hold referendums in the new territories on the issue of borders. "Not yet," the Kremlin official said. Nor did he say how Moscow was planning to consult locals in the Kherson and the Zaporozhye Regions on the border issue, but said any arrangement would depend on the will of those who resided there.

Commenting on whether the borders would be fixed by the time Russian President Vladimir Putin signs corresponding laws, Peskov said he thought the wording on the borders would remain the same. "I’d use the wording I’ve already used," he concluded.

Putin and the heads of the Donetsk and the Lugansk People’s Republics as well as the Kherson Region and the Zaporozhye Region signed treaties on their accession to Russia at a Kremlin-hosted ceremony on Friday. Prior to that, the four regions held referendums where the overwhelming majority of voters opted to join Russia.

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