Russia's annexation of four captured regions in Ukraine is a sign of a serious escalation in a situation where we need sanity to win for things to get back to normal.
We are very dramatic about how dramatically the war between Russia and Ukraine has changed since Russia annexed four occupied regions of Ukraine.
After a number of controversial referendums, Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to have signed the necessary papers on Friday to officially start the process of incorporating Russian-controlled Luhansk and parts of Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia into the Russian Federation.
At the moment, Russia is in charge of these regions. It makes what amounts to a land link between Moscow and Crimea, which Moscow took over in 2014.
Even though Crimea's annexation was the first of its kind in Europe after World War II, the latest step is the biggest of its kind.
When all five regions are added together, they make up about 20% of Ukraine's total land area.
We are very upset about the most recent annexation of a sovereign country and the slow Russification of that country.
Changing borders by force is not only a clear violation of international law, but it is also against the law.
It is the stupidest thing that could be done in a war that has been going on for eight months and has already caused damage in faraway places like Bangladesh.
Because of the war and the way the West responded to it with harsh banking, trade, and business sanctions, the global supply chain went through a war on a scale that had never been seen before.
As a result of the fighting, a lot of people have been killed, hurt, and forced to leave their homes. In the past few weeks, the Ukrainian troops have been able to win some battles back.
This has led to a huge mobilization of Russian forces, and there is also fear that nuclear weapons will be used, so the situation is quickly getting out of hand.
The latest turn of events is ironic because Putin criticized the "satanic" West for its colonial past when he spoke at the annexation ceremony in the Kremlin.
He said that western colonies were to blame for terrible things like genocide, opium wars, and governments being stolen from. No one can argue with that fact.
How much does this, though, back up his own "colonization" project? He made it clear that he was ready to keep fighting for a "larger historical Russia" with all the tools he had at the time.
It is very important that the independent country of Ukraine does not get hurt in this war.
And it's the West's job to make sure it doesn't make things worse by raising tensions to the point where they think they have a right to do such extreme things.
So far, the West has been an active, but untrustworthy, third party in this war, and its actions have had almost the same effect on the world as those of the two main sides.
At other times, it has made things worse instead of making an effort to ease the tension. Sanctions were meant to hurt the Russian people and Russian interests, but they ended up hurting people all over the world.
It is very clear that giving military aid to Ukraine while making life hard for Russia economically is not working. This just shows how important it is to use smarter methods and solutions.
We strongly urge the Russian government to stop its destructive actions in Ukraine, and we ask the rest of the international community to set the stage for less tension in the area.
There is no reason to keep going with this war or any other illegal takeover of a country's land.
We urge everyone involved to look for ways to end this war without violence and through diplomatic channels.
AssetsFX 
