After speech troops sent
Does this Putin speech herald war?
Vladimir Putin addressed the people on Monday. He made it clear that he recognizes the separatist areas in eastern Ukraine as their own “people’s republics”.
Published: 02/21/2022 at 10:06 p.m
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Updated: 9 minutes ago
Russian President Vladimir Putin (69) has recognized the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine as independent states. In a speech that lasted almost an hour, he tried to justify this decision. He said: “Ukraine has (…) been brought down to the level of a colony with a puppet regime.” He is referring to an alleged control of Ukraine from abroad.
He speaks of an alleged “genocide” committed by the Ukrainian “regime” on the inhabitants of eastern Ukraine. This is an argument that Putin has used before. He provides no evidence. Experts suspect that the allegation that there is genocide against Russians in Ukraine creates a “pretext” for an invasion of Russian troops.
Accuses Ukraine of building nuclear weapons
Then Putin denied that Ukraine had its own state tradition. He claims: “Today’s Ukraine was created entirely by Russia.” In the speech, he also accused Ukraine of wanting to build its own nuclear weapons.
He claims: «We know that there have already been reports that Ukraine wants to produce its own nuclear weapons. This is no idle boast. In fact, Ukraine still has Soviet nuclear technologies and delivery systems for such weapons.” However, the Kremlin chief does not go into sources for his statement here either.
After the speech, Putin sends troops
While delivering a speech to regard the occupied territories as independent states, he claims to have attempted diplomacy. He says: “Russia has always advocated that the most difficult problems be decided at the negotiating table using political-diplomatic methods.” He feels betrayed by the West. He is addressing the expansion of NATO to the east.
Then follows the declaration of independence: “I consider it necessary to make a long-matured decision: to immediately recognize the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic.” Shortly thereafter, Putin signed that he would send a “peace mission” – military troops – to the areas. According to reports, armored military vehicles have already been sighted in Donetsk. (euc/SDA)