Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian troops into Ukraine after recognising two Moscow-backed separatist regions, hobbling the prospects of a diplomatic solution to the crisis as he put Russia on a war footing.
Putin directed Russia’s military into rebel-held regions of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas border area on a “peacekeeping” operation, after he signed decrees pronouncing their independence on Monday.
The troops look set to remain there indefinitely under draft agreements published by the Kremlin under which Russia would defend the separatist states’ borders.
Russia’s president made the decision after an angry televised speech in which he cast doubts over Ukraine’s statehood and accused the west of using the country as a tool to destroy Russia.
Putin, who devoted long portions of his speech to his version of Ukraine’s modern history, vowed to “punish” those he accused of massacring Russians in Odesa in 2014. He also made clear that his grievances with Kyiv stretched to the country’s existence in its current form.
“You want de-communisation?” he asked, in reference to Ukraine’s efforts to move beyond its Soviet past and Russia’s influence. “That suits us fine. But don’t stop halfway. We’re ready to show Ukraine what real de-communisation means for it.”
The separatist Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics were formally recognised at a signing ceremony in the Kremlin after Putin warned that Russia would hold Ukraine responsible for any “ensuing bloodshed” in the region.
Russia previously deployed its troops to the Donbas in 2014-2015, but hitherto denied, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that it was a party to the conflict there.
Western powers worry that the Russian troops could help create a pretext for Moscow to attack Ukrainian forces. Putin repeated unsupported allegations that Ukraine has stepped up an artillery and “terrorist” campaign against the separatists, which Kyiv and its western allies say was laying ground for a “false flag” operation.
The move to recognise the breakaway regions sparked immediate international condemnation.
The White House said that Joe Biden, US president, would issue an executive order banning new investment, trade and financing by US entities in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, said the order would also allow the US to place sanctions on people operating in the two areas.
“We will also soon announce additional measures related to today’s blatant violation of Russia’s international commitments,” said Psaki, who stressed that the measures were separate from the severe sanctions that the US had threatened to impose on Russia if the country further invaded Ukraine.
A spokesperson for Olaf Scholz said the German chancellor “condemned” the recognition of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, adding that the move was “completely at odds with the Minsk agreement on a peaceful solution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine”.
After a call between Biden, Scholz and Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, the chancellor’s spokesman said: “All three agreed that this unilateral step by Russia is a clear breach of the Minsk agreement. Germany, France and the US strongly condemn the Russian president’s decision. This step will not go unanswered.”
A French official said that “proportional, targeted sanctions” would be discussed in Brussels: “Russia must pay the price of its decisions this evening. All this has a cost and we want to proportion this cost to the decisions taken by President Putin.”
Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, and Charles Michel, European Council president, said the step was “a blatant violation of international law” and said the EU would “react with sanctions against those involved in this illegal act”.
Britain will announce sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, Liz Truss, foreign secretary, announced, in immediate reprisals against Moscow’s “breach of international law and attack on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
Putin’s speech followed a meeting with his national security council where Russian officials lined up to denounce Ukraine and the US, disparage the stalled Minsk peace process and urge Putin to recognise the separatists.
It also followed Moscow’s claim that it had destroyed two Ukrainian military vehicles that strayed into its territory, killing five people. The unconfirmed incident would be the first direct clash with Ukrainian forces since Moscow mobilised 190,000 troops on its border.
Markets responded with alarm. Russia’s Moex stock index closed down 10.5 per cent, its steepest fall since Russia seized Crimea in 2014. Brent crude, the oil benchmark, rose 4 per cent to $97.30 a barrel.
Daily reports of clashes in eastern Ukraine have been an ominous backdrop to diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis. Putin and Biden have accepted “the principle” of a summit to ease tensions, the White House said, but the Kremlin has so far played down expectations that it would actually go ahead.
Russia-backed separatists in Donbas have accused Kyiv of launching an offensive to retake the breakaway territories, where more than 14,000 people have died since Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014.
Additional reporting by Guy Chazan in Berlin and Derek Brower in New York
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2022-02-21 23:13:34Z
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