Online Desk/

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced increased security measures across Russia, including its occupied Crimea. In addition, military rule has been imposed in four other regions of Ukraine that Russia recently occupied.

Putin has given more powers to regional governors and ordered increased economic activity. It is thought that evacuations and restrictions on movement may be imposed. News-BBC.

These orders will come into effect from midnight local time on Thursday (October 19). President Putin announced the decisions after the Russian-backed administration began fleeing the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.

Putin issued a decree to this effect during a virtual meeting with the Russian Security Council on Wednesday.

According to the announcement, the four Russian-held regions of Ukraine are under martial law. These are Luhansk, which is fully occupied by Russia, and three other Ukrainian oblasts, which are partially occupied by Russia. These are Donetsk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson.

However, there was already a kind of military rule in these regions.

According to the Russian department, Putin ordered in the decree that security will be strengthened in those areas and that transport, communications and energy centers will be under the control of a “special administration”.

Local residents will be evacuated to ‘safe zones’ in the face of fighting. And there will be a total ban on movement within those areas.

However, the order to impose martial law must be approved by the Russian parliament.

Media workers say that the most significant aspect of Putin’s new decree is the strengthening of security in the rest of Russia, except for Ukraine.

The order imposes three additional layers of security measures. Maximum security applies to Russian-held Crimea and other Russian regions near the border with Ukraine, such as Belgorod, Kursk and Krasnodar.

There will be increased security, people will be evacuated if necessary, and there will be some restrictions on movement.

Regional administrations will be given more powers to ensure these security measures, build territorial defense forces and ‘boost’ the economy for the war effort.

The next level of Putin’s military rule applies to Moscow, and its surrounding central and southern regions. Regional authorities here also have the power to introduce similar, but less stringent, restrictions.

And at the lowest level of this security system are other regions, such as Siberia, the Far East and the North, including St. Petersburg. But it is not yet clear how strict these measures will be in practice.