(Reuters) – DUTCH PRIME MINISTER MARK RUTTE
“The Netherlands will never recognize this annexation, just as we don’t recognise the annexation of Crimea.”
GREEK FOREIGN MINISTRY
“The decision is illegal as it violates blatantly international law and it is void.”
EUROPEAN COMMISSION PRESIDENT URSULA VON DER LEYEN
“The illegal annexation proclaimed by Putin won’t change anything. All territories illegally occupied by Russian invaders are Ukrainian land and will always be part of this sovereign nation.”
ITALY’S GIORGIA MELONI
Russian President Vladimir Putin “once again demonstrates his Soviet-style, neo-imperialist vision that threatens the security of the entire European continent.”
STATEMENT BY MEMBERS OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL
“We firmly reject and unequivocally condemn the illegal annexation by Russia of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
“By wilfully undermining the rules-based international order and blatantly violating the fundamental rights of Ukraine to independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, core principles as enshrined in the UN Charter and international law, Russia is putting global security at risk.
“We do not and will never recognise the illegal ‘referenda’ that Russia has engineered as a pretext for this further violation of Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, nor their falsified and illegal results. We will never recognise this illegal annexation.”
(Editing by Toby Chopra)
