President Vladimir Putin said Russia planned to allocate 1.9 trillion roubles ($20 billion) from the federal budget over the next two-and-a-half years to the development of the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow last year declared to be part of its territory.

Moscow does not control any of the regions in its entirety and the unilateral annexation has been recognised by only a handful of countries allied to Russia, while being condemned by Ukraine and three-quarters of U.N. member states.