Officially Joined, This is the Acting Head of the Four New Russian Regions appointed by President Putin

The leader of Russia's (left-right) Volodymyr Saldo, Yevgeny Balutsky, Denis Pasechnik, Denis Pushilin. (Source: Kremlin/Ria Novosti/Grigory Sysoev)

JAKARTA - President Vladimir Putin appointed the acting heads of the four newly-joined regions of Russia, following the signing of the laws on the annexation of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.

The acting head of the region, appointed by President Putin, will rule until a definitive leader is chosen by Russian law. It is planned that the regional head election will be held on the simultaneous Voting Day in September 2023.

The same politicians who presided over the region before they acceded to Russia, are known to retain their posts, launches TASS on October 5.

Denis Pushilin, who was the leader of the Russian-language protests in the Donetsk Region after the coup in Ukraine, became the acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR).

Pushilin participated in the ceremony on April 7, 2014, when the DPR was formed, and in 2018 he was elected head of the republic.

President Putin with four leaders of the region annexed by Russia. (Source: Kremlin/RIA Novosti/Grigory Sysoev)

Leonid Pasechnik is now the head of the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR). In 2014, when protests against the events of Euromaidan and a national coup began in southeastern Ukraine, he sided with the people's militia of the Lugansk Region and was elected head of the republic in 2018.

If the leaders of the two Donbass republics retain the title of chief, the other two regional heads become acting governors.

Yevgeny Balitsky, who heads the civil-military administration of the Zaporizhzhia Region, will become the acting governor of the region. A military-civilian government was formed in the areas liberated in the region after being taken over by Russian troops.

And Vladimir Balance, previously the head of the civil-military government of the Kherson Region, became the acting governor of the region.

It is known that after referendums in the four regions showed a majority wanted to join Russia, despite international rejection, President Putin and the heads of the four regions signed their accession agreements to Russia at a ceremony organized by the Kremlin last Friday. Pushilin, Pasechnik, Balitsky, and Balance signed the document on behalf of the four regions.