Russian President Vladimir Putin has directed his country’s armed forces to ensure peace in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, whose independence Moscow recognized on Monday.
The decrees, signed by Putin recognizing the two republics and published on Monday evening on the government legal information website, provide for “the implementation of the tasks of ensuring peace” by the Russian armed forces in the territories of Donetsk and Lugansk in response to requests in this regard by their presidents, Denis Pushilin and Denis Pasechnik, and in accordance with the friendship agreements. cooperation and mutual assistance concluded with them.
In the two decrees, Putin also directed the Russian Foreign Ministry to “hold talks” with the Donetsk and Lugansk authorities on “establishing diplomatic relations” with the two republics and “record the agreements that will be reached in this regard in appropriate documents.”
Today, the Russian President signed two decrees requiring Russia to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics from Ukraine, against the backdrop of an ongoing military-political crisis in the Donbass region since 2014.
In a speech on this occasion, Putin said that “the situation in Donbass has become acute and dangerous again,” considering that the people of the region are being subjected to “genocide” by “the nationalist regime in Kiev that seized power as a result of the 2014 coup.”
The move was widely criticized by Western countries, which they consider a violation of international law and the sovereignty of Ukraine, saying that Russia is preparing for an “imminent invasion of Ukrainian territory.”
Source: Russia Today