Even though Russia has failed to fully control the four territories it seeks to annex, the Kremlin is preparing a show designed to present a sheen of legitimacy to its illegal takeover.
The requests lent an air of formality to a process condemned by the West. They followed sham referendums in four regions in Ukraine that purported to put voters’ stamp of approval on joining Russia.
The Kremlin dispatched federal security forces to frontier border crossings packed with Russian men trying to escape the draft by entering countries like Georgia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.