The announcement represents a vertiginous leap in the crisis in the east, which distances the understanding between Russia and the West and which Kiev considers as the prologue of an invasion
President Vladimir Putin announced on Monday that he will recognize the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk, the two Ukrainian provinces controlled by Russian separatists, which have become the symbol of the crisis in Eastern Europe and the confrontation between the West and Russia. The recognition, requested last week by the Russian Duma or Lower House, represents a major leap in the Ukrainian conflict that, in principle, distances the possibility of dialogue, increases the escalation, if not warlike, if belligerent, and plunges still into uncertainty greater than an eventual peace process.
The Kremlin leader’s decision also comes a few hours after French President Emmanuel Macron opened a door to a summit between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart. Germany has already shown its rejection of this turn of events, which has also led the Ukrainian head of government, Volodymir Zelenzky, to summon his security and defense advisers. Kiev understands that this measure can cover up a ‘de facto’ invasion while other Western leaders recall that the annexation of Crimea began in a similar way.
Putin met on Monday afternoon with the Russian Security Council. A unique session broadcast on television, which predicted the announcement of important decisions. After exchanging impressions with several members of his cabinet, including the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, and his Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, the Russian president expressed before the cameras his recognition of the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk.
The arguments offered by his team are the same that he had been unraveling in the previous hours. Putin is convinced that neither Ukraine, nor the US nor NATO are willing to comply with the 2015 Minsk agreements (their main demand to end the current crisis) and that Washington and the Alliance have not shown any sign of preserving the Russia’s security (that is, giving up ‘sine die’ to expand NATO bases to the border with your country.
Among his statements, the head of the Kremlin denied any responsibility for the escalation of tension and assured that his government “has done everything possible” to resolve the conflict by peaceful means, which some analysts consider a possible sign of abandoning this path. Lavrov added fuel to this concern by stating that the recognition of the separatist enclaves is “a signal so that they do not trample on the rights of our citizens.”
Just a week ago, last Tuesday the 15th, the Duma (Lower House of the Russian legislative body) overwhelmingly approved a resolution, the draft of which was presented by the communists, urging Putin to recognize Donetsk and Lugansk as independent states. With a view to their possible subsequent annexation or with the aim of turning them into Russian protectorates. That same day, the top Russian leader described as “genocide” what the Ukrainian Army is currently doing in Donbass.
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