Biden Threatens Serious Consequences If Russia Annexes Ukrainian Territory!
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Washington DC - US President Joe Biden warned Russia that there would be "quick and severe" consequences if Moscow used the referendum to annex Ukrainian territory. Biden called the referendum underway in the four Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine a 'fake'.
"The Russian referendum is a bogus -- a false pretext for trying to annex parts of Ukraine by force in a flagrant violation of international law," Biden said in a statement.
"We will work with our allies and partners to inflict a rapid and severe economic loss on Russia," he said.
Referendum to join Russia is known to be ongoing since Friday (23/9) local time in four regions of Ukraine controlled by Moscow troops, namely Luhansk, parts of Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions, as well as Kherson which is almost completely controlled by Russia.
The condemnation of the pro-Russian referendum was also echoed by other Western countries, who called the vote an illegitimate prelude to illegal annexation. There were no independent observers on the vote, and most of the pre-war population had fled.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Russia's 'false referendum' a clear 'violation of the UN Charter, its principles, its values, everything the UN stands for'.
Separately, the G7 group, which consists of the world's most developed economies, stressed that the results of the Russian referendum would never be recognized internationally.
"We will never recognize this referendum which appears to be a step towards annexation by Russia and we will never recognize its claimed annexation if it did," the G7 group said in a statement.