Russian President Vladimir Putin will recognise the independence of eastern Ukraine’s separatist republics, the Kremlin said in a statement Monday, adding that he had informed the French and German leaders of his decision.
“The president plans to sign the order in the near future,” the Kremlin said in a statement released ahead of Putin’s expected national speech.
In phone conversation with Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz “expressed dissatisfaction” over the decision.
“At the same time, they expressed their willingness to maintain contacts,” according to the Kremlin.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned remarks by President Vladimir Putin that Russia could recognise two Kremlin-backed breakaway Ukrainian regions as independent, his office said, news agency Reuters reported.
Separately, Moscow claimed that Ukrainian military saboteurs tried to infiltrate Russian territory in armed vehicles, killing five people, an allegation Kyiv condemned as “false news.”
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Both events follow a pattern foreseen by Western countries, who accuse Russia of planning to invent a pretext to invade Ukraine by blaming Kyiv for attacks and relying on separatist proxies’ appeals for assistance.
Since the commencement of war in southeast Ukraine following a revolution in Kyiv in 2014, Russia has governed and armed the two states, but it has sought to keep them in Ukraine by granting them the power to veto important decisions such as Nato membership.
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Ukraine has stated that any decision by Russia to recognise the regions’ independence will be challenged, and that the action will be interpreted as a Russian decision to withdraw from the Minsk agreements, a peace deal inked in 2015 that appears to be on the verge of collapse.
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Putin may still refuse to recognise the two countries’ independence, citing the staged discussion with his advisers as evidence that the western leaders are running out of time to negotiate.
However, it is more likely that he will heed the unanimous recommendation of his aides and close allies and recognise the two areas, thereby upsetting the status quo.
(With inputs from agencies)
