“We cannot do anything but recognize the sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic. At the end of a forty-minute professorial speech, Vladimir Putin buried in one sentence the last hopes of diplomats. The recognition of the pro-Russian separatist regions, expected, immediately led to strong reactions from the Europeans, in the first place.
A “flagrant violation of the sovereignty” of Ukraine. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the first to speak out against the Russian leader’s remarks. A few minutes later, the European Union let it be known with one voice that it would react “firmly” to this offensive.
Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, mediators in the eastern Ukrainian conflict, conducted an emergency meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president and their “closest partners”. In the process, Ukraine also requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. The UN chief rushed back to New York, canceling a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the meantime, the United Nations calls “to refrain” from “any unilateral decision” that “undermines the integrity” of Ukraine.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who has been noted for her firmness towards Russia, said that by doing so, Putin was “reneging on all his commitments” to the international community.
Crippled by Vladimir Putin for having “ignored from the start” the “fundamental proposals”, NATO soberly “condemned” the decision of the Russian head of state. The reaction of the United States, which has constantly alerted the world to the risk of an imminent Russian invasion, has been curiously slow. Joe Biden, the American president, took the time to chat privately with the Ukrainian president. Then with Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz.
But the head of American diplomacy, Josep Borrell, had a few moments earlier warned that “sanctions [étaient] on the table” in the event of recognition of the Donbass republics. At 9:30 p.m., a little less than an hour after the end of Vladimir Putin’s speech, Joe Biden kept his promises: the United States announced “sanctions” not against Russia, but against the separatist regions in Ukraine.
An executive order will prohibit any new investment, exchange or financing by American persons to, from or within the pro-Russian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, said its spokeswoman, Jen Psaki.