Russian President Vladimir Putin says modern Ukraine is part of Russia & should be divided. Putin said that modern Ukraine was created by Communist Russia during a live TV address on Monday.
He also said he would sign an order “in the near future” recognising two separatist republics in eastern Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic.
Biden agrees Ukraine deal with Putin brokered by President Macron
Modern Ukraine is part of Russia
The leaders of two rebel-held regions in eastern Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, on Monday, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognise them as independent in a coordinated appeal.
“I ask you to recognise the sovereignty and independence of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” separatist Leonid Pasechnik said in a video aired on Russian state television. Denis Pushilin, the rebel head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, made a similar appeal.
THIS IS BREAKING LIVE ON TWITTER
Live: Russian President, Putin speaks to the nation https://t.co/QdKt2o8fMF
— WTX News UK (@WtxNews) February 21, 2022
EU ‘ready to react’ if Moscow recognises separatist Ukraine regions
The European Union is “ready to react” if Russian President Vladimir Putin recognises Ukraine’s separatist-held territories as independent, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday.
“We call upon President Putin to respect international law and the Minsk agreements and expect him not to recognise the independence of Lugansk and Donetsk oblasts,” Borrell said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
“We are ready to react with a strong, united front in case he should decide to do so.”
Germany’s Scholz tells Putin that recognising Ukraine rebel regions is a breach of Minsk agreements – Ukraine is independent from Russia
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday warned that Ukraine is independent from Russia and Moscow would be unilaterally breaching the 2015 Minsk peace accords if it were to recognise the independence of eastern Ukraine’s self-declared, rebel-held republics.
In a call between Scholz and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the German leader underlined that “such a step would be a gross contradiction of the Minsk agreement for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in east Ukraine and a unilateral breach of these deals from the Russian side”.
Following the conversation, Scholz is currently consulting with his “closest partners” including France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, the chancellery said in a statement.
………………………………………….
