Original Russian-language document. Federal Constitutional Law of the Russian Federation ratifying the Treaty on the Accession of Kherson Oblast to the Russian Federation, adopted by the State Duma and Federation Council and signed into law by President Putin on 4 October 2022. This is the domestic legislative instrument completing the annexation sequence — the annexation treaty (DOC-112) required ratification by federal constitutional law to enter into force under Russian constitutional procedure. The law has no standing under international law.
This Federal Constitutional Law ratifies the Treaty on the Accession of Kherson Oblast to the Russian Federation (see DOC-112), completing the formal legislative process required under the Russian Constitution for the admission of a new federal subject. Adopted by the State Duma on 3 October 2022 and the Federation Council on 4 October 2022, it was signed by President Putin on the same day. The ratification law is the domestic legal instrument that caused the annexation treaty to enter into force within the Russian legal system. It formally establishes Kherson Oblast as a new federal subject, triggers the application of Russian federal law across the territory, and initiates the transition period during which Ukrainian residents are processed for Russian citizenship and Ukrainian legal instruments are superseded. The ratification was adopted unanimously in both chambers of the Federal Assembly. The law applies regardless of which portions of Kherson Oblast are under Russian military control: Russia formally claims the entire oblast within its internationally recognised Ukrainian administrative borders. As of mid-2026, Ukraine controls Kherson city and the right bank of the Dnipro; Russia controls the left bank and southern parts. The legal claim set out in this ratification law remains operative across the entire oblast in the Russian legal framework.
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Federal Constitutional Law on the Admission of Kherson Oblast into the Russian Federation
Adopted by the State Duma on 3 October 2022. Approved by the Federation Council on 4 October 2022. Signed by the President of the Russian Federation on 4 October 2022.
Article 1 — Ratification
The Treaty between the Russian Federation and Kherson Oblast on the Accession of Kherson Oblast to the Russian Federation and the Formation of a New Subject within the Russian Federation, signed in Moscow on 30 September 2022, shall be ratified.
Article 2 — New federal subject
Kherson Oblast is admitted to the Russian Federation and formed as a new subject of the Russian Federation — Kherson Oblast — from 30 September 2022.
Article 3 — Borders
The borders of Kherson Oblast shall constitute the state border of the Russian Federation.
Article 4 — Federal law extension
Federal constitutional laws, federal laws, and other normative legal acts of the Russian Federation shall apply in the territory of Kherson Oblast from the date of its admission to the Russian Federation.
Analytical note
The provision in Article 3 that Kherson Oblast's borders "constitute the state border of the Russian Federation" is particularly significant: it means that any Ukrainian military operation to retake Russian-controlled Kherson Oblast is characterised by the Russian legal framework as an attack on Russian territory. This framing underpins Russia's invocation of Article 51 of the UN Charter (self-defence) as justification for the war, and its nuclear doctrine, which provides for the use of nuclear weapons in response to conventional attacks on Russian territory.