PACE describes Russian actions in east Ukraine as ‘hybrid annexation’

This was stated by PACE rapporteurs on the situation in Ukraine Marieluise Beck and Kristýna Zelienková during the hearing of the Assembly’s political and legal committees devoted to the situation in eastern Ukraine, Deutsche Welle reports. "According to our information, the Kremlin established five ‘ministries’, which actually govern the so-called ‘LPR’ and ‘DPR’,” Beck said, describing the current situation in the occupied territories as “hybrid annexation" which became an inevitable consequence of the hybrid war Russia wages against Ukraine. The Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, Nils Muižnieks, also stated that those territories were gradually but inexorably coming under the influence of Russia and became more isolated from the rest of Ukraine.