Putin to recognise Ukrainian separatist regions, Kremlin says, in escalation of tensions
Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to recognise the independence of two rebel-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin said, breaching the 2015 protocol that ended the conflict in Donbas and further inflaming the tensions between the two countries.
Putin's decision to consider recognising the separatist regions — the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics — only threatens to add fuel to the fire, with sanctions against Russia already prepared by the likes of Brussels.
"Certainly, if there is annexation, there will be sanctions. And if there is a recognition, I will put the sanctions on the table and the ministers will decide," said Josep Borrell, the EU's top diplomat, at the end of a ministerial meeting in Brussels.
US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron both called for their countries' security councils to convene for emergency meetings in light of the news from the Kremlin.
Earlier on Monday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Moscow's recognition of the separatist regions' independence would be a "unilateral breach" of the Minsk agreements, in the run-up to the three-way conversation with Macron and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prior to Putin’s live announcement.
“Chancellor Scholz condemned plans in Russia to recognise the so-called People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states,” German federal government's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.
“Such a step would be in blatant contradiction to the Minsk agreements on the peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and would be a unilateral breach of these agreements by Russia.”
Ukrainian authorities also asked the United Nations Security Council’s to assemble in an emergency session,
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