The Russian-occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine handed out Russian passports to local residents for the first time on Saturday, news agencies reported.
Russia's TASS agency said 23 Kherson residents received a Russian passport as a result of a "simplified procedure" facilitated by a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin in May.
On Friday, Former NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen criticized the West for not responding strongly enough to the Russian war in Ukraine, continuing its dependence on Russian oil and gas.
“We did not learn the lessons of history. Appeasing dictators does not lead to peace,” Rasmussen said at a democracy summit of his organization Alliance of Democracies in Copenhagen.
He also called on the West to stop all imports of oil and gas immediately in order to cut Putin’s funding for the war, stressing the importance of a Ukrainian victory.
Speaking about the invasion of Ukraine, the ex-NATO leader said “it was hard to believe what was happening. In fact, we should not have been surprised. Putin’s chosen path was never concealed. It was clear in his speeches where he denied Ukraine’s right to exist.”
The murder of dissidents and political opponents and the political propaganda was also evidence of Putin’s path, Rasmussen said, and “most of all, it was clear from the invasion of Crimea” in 2014.
“Ukraine must win the war,” he said. It is “the frontline of the fight for democracy.”
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