The decision is expected to provoke sharp protests from Ukraine and the West, and new sanctions against Russia are expected.
Putin also demanded that Ukraine immediately cease hostilities, “otherwise all responsibility for the possible continuation of the bloodshed will rest entirely with the conscience of the Ukrainian regime.”
Russia’s president has accused Ukraine of shooting Donbass and “genocide” four million people in the region, while the “civilized world” ignores it.
However, Ukraine and the West emphasize that it is Russia, led by Putin, that is carrying out aggression against Ukraine, pulling up to 150,000 troops off the Ukrainian border and threatening a new invasion of Ukrainian territory.
European Commission President Urzula von der Leiena stresses that Putin’s decision to recognize the separatist territories is a gross violation of international law that threatens Ukraine’s territorial integrity and the Minsk ceasefire agreement.
“The European Union will respond with its partners in a united, firm and determined manner, expressing solidarity with Ukraine,” the President said.
The recognition of the two separatist territories in #Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law, the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the #Minsk agreements.
The EU and its partners will react with unity, firmness and with determination in solidarity with Ukraine.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) February 21, 2022
Donetsk and Luhansk separatist leaders considered Ukraine leaders of terrorist organizations on Monday called on Putin to recognize independence of the self-proclaimed “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The separatists also call for military cooperation agreements to facilitate the involvement of Russian troops in “protecting their compatriots”. reports Interfax.
On Monday night, Putin delivered a nearly hour – long address to the Russian people, in which set out the reasons for its decision.
Putin’s announcement of the “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk was made at the very end of the speech, but before that he spoke of a very long and extensive monologue that sought to portray Ukraine as a failed state that owes its gratitude to Russia.
Putin said that “modern Ukraine is entirely created by Russia, more precisely, Bolshevik, communist Russia.”
Putin pointed out that Lenin was an architect of Soviet Ukraine who pushed the Donbass region into Ukraine, but now ungrateful Ukrainians have forgotten about it and demolished Lenin’s monuments.
After World War II, Stalin gave Ukraine land that once belonged to Poland, Romania and Hungary, but in 1954 Khrushchev “for some reason deprived Russia of Crimea and donated it to Ukraine.”
Putin once again criticized the events of the 1980s, when the tendencies of nationalism led to the collapse of the USSR, the collapse of “historic Russia”, which was called the USSR.
Putin claims that Ukraine has never had its own tradition of statehood, so Kiev is only copying foreign models that are separated from the traditions of Ukraine.
To a large extent in this speech, he repeated the rhetoric that had already been outlined last summer when Putin published a very long and comprehensive article. “On the historical unity of Russia and Ukraine”, which, from its point of view, outlined the history of all centuries of Russian – Ukrainian relations. Putin claimed at the time that Ukrainians and Russians were “one nation.”
As former Estonian President Thomas Hendrik Ilves acknowledged at the time, this Putin rhetoric is extremely dangerous because he denies the existence of the Ukrainian nation and uses similar rhetoric as Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in 1938 over the Sudetenland to achieve the partition of Czechoslovakia.
Putin claims that Ukraine’s statehood has been eroded by corruption, but that “radicals” have come to power as a result of the “coup d’état” in 2014, and since then Ukrainian society has faced manifestations of “extreme nationalism”, Russophobia and neo-Nazism.
Russian television immediately after Putin’s speech showed how he was signing documents with the separatist leaders of Donetsk and Luhansk.
In his speech, Putin said that the Ukrainian state had been looted and subjected to external control. The Kremlin’s host says Ukraine is preparing for aggression against Russia and will try to rebuild its nuclear arsenal, which it abandoned in the 1990s.
“We cannot fail to respond to these dangers,” Putin said.
The Russian president believes that Ukraine’s accession to NATO would be a direct threat to Russia’s security. He once again lamented the five waves of NATO enlargement that brought NATO’s military infrastructure closer to Russia’s borders.
NATO missiles could reach Russian cities within minutes. Putin said such a threat to Russia was like a “knife in his throat.”
Putin’s move has heightened fears that Russia is preparing to use military operations against Ukraine to support the Donetsk and Luhansk separatists.
Donetsk and Luhansk regions are located in the east of Ukraine. Russia has been supporting armed separatist gangs fighting against Ukraine’s armed forces since 2014.
In Donetsk, pro-Russian activists rejoice at Putin’s decision to recognize the independence of Donetsk’s “People’s Republic”
Photo: REUTERS, ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO
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In 2014, after the fall of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula and supported the formation of separatist groups in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk have declared the establishment of “people’s republics”, but the international community considers these territories to be an integral part of Ukraine.
Until now, the independence of the “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk had not been recognized by any country in the world, not even by Russia.
Russia’s State Duma already last week turned to Putin calling for the independence of the two “people’s republics” to be recognized.
Separatist leaders say Russia’s support for the independence of the two republics is needed to prevent Ukraine’s “military aggression” and “massacre of civilians.”
Ukrainian officials emphasizethat Kiev does not plan any military operations with an invasion of separatist territory, but that Russia is deliberately spreading such misinformation as a pretext for invading Russian troops in Ukraine.
Unlike the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014 and considers to be part of it, this is not the case, at least for the time being, about the official inclusion of the Donetsk and Luhansk “People’s Republics” in Russia.
Sergei Narishkin, director of Russia’s foreign intelligence service, who reported to Putin on the status of Donetsk and Luhansk at a Security Council meeting, suffered a severe setback in this regard on Monday.
Narishkin said he “supports the proposal to include the” People’s Republics “of Donetsk and Luhansk in the Russian Federation.” Putin had to correct him that such an issue is not being discussed at the moment. Narishkin began to stutter and said he supported the proposal to recognize the independence of these territories.
CONTEXT:
In February 2014, after protests was overthrown pro-Russian President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych. Russia used political instability to its advantage annexed Ukrainian-owned Crimean peninsula. Russia also supported armed separatist unitsin the Donbass region fought against the Ukrainian army.
In September 2014, the “Minsk Agreement” on the armistice was signed, in February 2015 in Minsk signed a new peace plan. However, there are fewer clashes between the Ukrainian army and Russian-backed separatists still going on. More than 14,000 people have been killed since the conflict began, including more than 3,000 civilians.
The international community still considers Crimea to be part of Ukraine nor has it recognized the separatist “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Ukraine wants as soon as possible to become a member of the European Union and NATObut Russia strongly opposes Ukraine’s accession to NATO.
Russia has recently drawn up to 150,000 troops off the Ukrainian border, indicating possible preparations for an attack. The US and the European Union warn of an attack on Ukraine will have serious consequencessevere sanctions will be imposed on Russia.
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