Putin recognizes Donetsk and Luhansk as independent
Russia-Ukraine conflict
Kiev/Moscow/Brussels (dpa) – Dramatic escalation in the Ukraine conflict: Russian President Vladimir Putin has recognized the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east of the country as independent states. The Kremlin chief signed a corresponding decree on Monday.
At the same time, he concluded an agreement on “friendship and assistance” with representatives of the pro-Russian separatists there. This will allow Russian soldiers to be stationed in both regions. The USA and the EU announce punitive measures.
The ceasefire agreed years ago in Donetsk and Luhansk no longer holds due to hundreds of violations, government troops and separatists are officially fighting there.
According to probable information, Russia has gathered around 150,000 soldiers on the border with the neighboring country. Moscow has been contradicting Western fears for weeks that an invasion of Ukraine could be imminent.
EU and USA announce sanctions
The decision is likely to further fuel the Ukraine conflict. The EU will respond with sanctions, as EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel said in the evening. The punitive measures should target those involved, it said. Von der Leyen and Michel condemned the decision as a “blatant violation of international law and the territorial integrity of Ukraine”.
The US government will also impose sanctions, as announced by US President Joe Biden’s spokeswoman, Jen Psaki. The measures would affect, among other things, investments or trade by US persons with a view to Donetsk and Luhansk.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also denounced Putin’s move as an “open breach of international law” and spoke of a “shameless violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and integrity”.
With a view to the fighting in Donbass, Putin called on the Catholic leadership to immediately stop firing in Ukraine. Otherwise, Kiev will bear full responsibility for it, he said. The majority of Russia’s National Security Council is also in favor of recognition.
The pro-Russian separatist leaders in the two regions had previously asked Putin for assistance in fighting the Ukrainian government troops. According to UN estimates, more than 14,000 people have died in the eight-year conflict.
Despite the lack of evidence, Putin spoke on TV about a mass crime against people of Russian origin in eastern Ukraine. “The so-called civilized world prefers to ignore the genocide in Donbass started by Kiev,” Putin said. Four million people are affected. The United States recently accused Russia of possibly wanting to use the accusation of genocide as a pretext for an invasion.
Putin on NATO: “They cheated us”
Putin also accused NATO of years of deception. When Germany was reunited in Soviet times, Russia was promised that NATO would not expand in the least bit to the east. “You betrayed us,” Putin said, accusing the Western alliance of having already pushed through five waves of eastward expansion — and treating Russia like an enemy. “Why all that? What for?” Putin asked. He had recently warned several times against Ukraine’s admission to NATO. This threatens Russia’s security.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz also warned Putin in a telephone call against recognizing the two Ukrainian regions. This would be “in blatant contradiction” to the 2015 Minsk agreement on the peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and would be a “unilateral breach” of these agreements, said Scholz, according to a spokesman.
The Kremlin also dampened hopes that Putin would soon meet his US counterpart Joe Biden. “So far there are no concrete plans for this,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov from the Interfax agency. According to the White House in Washington, Biden agreed to a meeting “in principle”. The foreign ministers of both countries plan to meet in Geneva on Thursday.
Russia is aware that the move will have serious consequences in view of the sanctions threatened by the West, said famous Security Council chairman Dmitry Medvedev. In view of the situation, however, there is no other option than to recognize the areas. The pressure on Russia will be unprecedented. The hope is that the conflict will cool down afterwards.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220221-99-221091/33
Ukrainian border guards stand at a checkpoint between pro-Russian separatist territory and territory controlled by Ukrainian forces. Photo: Evgenij Maloletka/AP/dpa
© Evgenij Maloletka (dpa)
Vladimir Putin at a Security Council meeting in the Kremlin. Photo: Alexei Nikolsky/Pool Sputnik Kremlin/AP/dpa
© Alexei Nikolsky (dpa)