Maps of Russia with regions of Ukraine as part of it appeared in stores

Russian bookstores have received maps of Russia, on which the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions of Ukraine are indicated in their administrative borders. This is reported by RBC.

Publishers have released several such wall maps, as well as a world atlas. The RBC correspondent discovered that the cards can already be bought in Moscow stores.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed laws on the annexation of Ukrainian regions occupied during the Russian invasion in October 2022. At the same time, Russia not only did not control a significant part of these regions, but during the autumn counteroffensive of Ukraine, it was forced to seriously retreat in several directions.

In December, the State Duma adopted draft laws in the first reading, according to which maps that “dispute the territory of Russia” are equated with extremist ones, and their distribution is punishable by a fine or arrest for individuals and a fine of up to a million rubles for legal entities. Against the background of the discussion of these draft laws, the publishers are reinsurance, issue cards in small editions and wait for the “legislatively established borders of the country”.

• Referendums on joining Russia were held in the territories controlled by the Russian army in eastern and southern Ukraine in September 2022. According to the announced results, the participants voted for joining Russia. Such a vote is not provided for by the legislation of Ukraine, it was not observed by representatives of independent mass media and observers of international structures. No one in the world recognized the results of the referendums, except for Moscow and North Korea.
• Russia declared that it “includes” the Ukrainian regions within their administrative borders, despite the fact that it occupied only parts of them. Kyiv and the Western countries announced in advance that they would not recognize the annexation under any circumstances.