President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to “secure the peace” in the newly recognized Donetsk and Lugansk republics, which were formerly considered to be part of Ukraine.
Moscow officially recognized the independence of the two breakaway regions on Monday.
Putin has instructed the Defense Ministry to send peacekeepers into the Donbass, while telling the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish diplomatic relations with the states.
The Kremlin’s official move comes shortly after Putin’s lengthy address to the nation on Monday evening. In it, he explaiened the step as a long overdue response to what he described as the “brotherly” Ukrainian nation becoming a “colony” of the West and falling under the rule of a “russophobic” government both hostile to Moscow and denying ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers basic human rights.
Donetsk and Lugansk declared independence from Kiev in 2014, after US-backed nationalists overthrew the democratically elected government in the Maidan coup. However, Moscow has refused to recognize them until now, saying the problem is an internal affair of Ukraine and needs to be resolved according to the Minsk agreements, which established an uneasy armistice in 2015.
Earlier on Monday, however, the Donetsk leader Denis Pushilin and Lugansk leader Leonid Pasechnik formally requested recognition from Moscow once again, as both Donbass regions and Ukraine claimed intensive artillery exchanges along the armistice line.
In his speech, Putin said that the Minsk process had failed and that Ukraine is “not interested in peaceful solutions – they want to start a Blitzkrieg.”
February 21, 2022 - A Ukrainian commander that is currently operating on the front lines in Donbas sent Buzzfeednews correspondent Christopher Miller a text message saying "We’ve been under shelling all day and yesterday. We watched Putin’s speech and now we are waiting... No new orders from military leadership except be covered with armor and watch for drones". Read more
February 21, 2022 - Russian President Vladimir Putin has also ordered a 'peacekeeping operation' in eastern Ukraine's two breakaway regions, Donetsk and Luhansk. Read more
February 21, 2022 - The White House has responded to Putin's 'Live' address recognizing two Russian backed separatist locations in Eastern Ukraine as independent states. Read more
February 21, 2022 - Russian President Vladimir Putin is now urging lawmakers to sign treaties with Ukraine's rebel regions so that Moscow can begin to supply military support to those regions. Fox News reporterJennifer Griffin says that the "Pentagon is expecting Putin to move into Ukraine tonight, on to those just recognized independent areas". Read more
February 21, 2022 - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: "Discussed the events of the last hours with @POTUS. We begin the meeting of the National Security and Defense Council. A conversation with @BorisJohnson is also planned". Read more
February 21, 2022 - Putin says Ukraine is capable of creating nuclear weapons using heritage from Soviet era and Western technological support. This could be used as a pretext (or excuse) to move in on Ukraine. Read more
February 21, 2022 - Russian President Vladimir Putin has now officially singed the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic as sovereign states. The papers are now officially signed, and the Russian stock market futures are now crashing. As of 26 minutes ago at the time of writing this, the futures had plummeted 21% as Putin was speaking on Ukraine during the live address. Read more
February 21, 2022 - White House National Security advisor Jake Sullivan said on Monday that Russia is planning an 'extremely violent' invasion of Ukraine and that Russia seeks to 'crush' the Ukrainian people. Read more
February 21, 2022 - The recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to do, if he so chooses, is roll his troops, tanks and artillery through the Ukrainian border and into those two regions. This would put Russian troops and tanks within Ukraine while under the pretext that it is Russian territory since it will now be 'officially' recognized as Russian territory the moment he signs the decree. Read more
February 21, 2022 - Putin has reportedly told Macron and Scholz that he will be signing the decree recognizing the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk 'People Republics'. He will reportedly be speaking about it in the live address about to take place. It was supposed to be taking place now, but he is not always on time. Read more
Putin signs ‘immediate’ recognition of Donbass regions
RT
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that Moscow has recognized the two self-declared breakaway Donbass republics in Ukraine’s east as sovereign nations, as a military standoff across the contact line continues to escalate.
Speaking as part of a televised address to the nation on Monday evening, Putin signed the decree, saying that “I deem it necessary to make a decision that should have been made a long time ago to immediately recognize the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics.” Lawmakers will now be asked to consider statements of friendship and support with the two regions.
The move, he said, was a direct result of the failure of the 2014 Minsk agreements, designed to put an end to fighting. “They are not interested in peaceful solutions – they want to start Blitzkreig,” he claimed. “Every day they are amassing troops in the Donbass,” Putin went on.
At the same time, he slammed Ukraine for “extreme nationalism,” “Nazism"and “Russophobia,” pointing to the shuttering of Russian-language news outlets and laws he said discriminate against Russian speakers.
The head of state also alleged that Kiev is sending saboteurs to target Russian infrastructure and attempting to “drag foreign states into conflict with our country.” Ukraine's ambitions to join NATO, he insisted, would mean an “immediate threat of attack against our country.”
Putin began the address by setting out his version of Ukrainian history and the former Soviet Republic's ties to Russia.“Let me stress once again that Ukraine is not just a neighboring country for us. It is an integral part of our own history, culture, and spiritual world,” he said, emphasizing that Ukrainians are “people Russians have blood and family ties with,” as well as friends, neighbors and colleagues.
The announcement comes as forces loyal to the two breakaway regions and Kiev’s troops accuse each other of carrying out heavy shelling across the front lines. On Monday from Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, the leaders of the DPR and LPR, calling for Moscow's backing for their independence. Putin chaired a televised meeting of the Russian Security Council to consider the request, in which he was urged by top officials to grant both regions recognition.
NATO ‘condemns’ Russia’s recognition of Donbass republics
The chief of NATO has condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of the “self-proclaimed” Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic in the Donbass region of Ukraine.
“This further undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, erodes efforts towards a resolution of the conflict, and violates the Minsk Agreements, to which Russia is a party,” NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote in a Monday statement following Putin’s announcement. He added that Donetsk and Lugansk are “part of Ukraine.”
Stoltenberg further claimed Putin’s announcement is an attempt to “stage a pretext to invade Ukraine once again.”
In his announcement, Putin said Ukraine is “amassing troops in the Donbass”in violation of the 2015 Minsk agreements. The Russian president also accused Ukraine’s leadership of supporting “Russophobia” and “extreme nationalism.”
West wants confrontation with Russia – Lavrov
The West is attempting to incite an unavoidable confrontation with Russia over Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
Speaking to his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, Lavrov lamented that Russia is unable to focus its efforts on its relationship with the Middle Eastern country, blaming Western attempts to fan the flames of conflict in Ukraine, allegedly with the goal of encouraging war between Russia and NATO.
“The situation in the world is developing rapidly. This also applies to northern Africa and the Middle East, including Syria,” Lavrov said. “Unfortunately, our efforts with you ... are affected by the atmosphere that is now being escalated our Western colleagues.”
According to Lavrov, the “Western alliance” is trying to create an “almost insurmountable confrontation” with Russia.
Major explosion in Lugansk city center (VIDEO)
A powerful explosion has rocked central Lugansk, in eastern Ukraine, late on Monday. The blast took place outside a building housing the office of the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) on the ceasefire and stabilization of the demarcation line in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR).
Unverified footage circulating online shows a heavily damaged vehicle on fire outside of the building. The blast shattered the building’s windows and set off the alarms of multiple cars parked outside.
No comments:
Post a Comment