The crisis in border between Russia and Ukraine reached a breaking point. President Vladimir Putin announced this Monday at a press conference that the Duma (parliament) and its government team will begin to process the “independence” of the region of Donbáswhere are the cities of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Tensions in that area have been a constant since 2014, when Russia annexed the peninsula of Crimea and Sevastopol. A little more than three decades ago, when the Soviet Union fell, both territories fell within the range of Ukrainian influence, but part of their inhabitants speak Russian and consider themselves part of Moscow, not Kiev.
In the midst of the annexation that starred the Kremlin eight years ago, the zones ended in the midst of an armed and social dispute in which pro-Russian armed groups began to dominate on the ground, while Ukraine tried to regain control in that part of the country.
Those actors who govern in the Donbas region are close to the administration of Vladimir Putin, but as an association that exercises social control through arms they do not always follow the line of command from Moscow. And it is in that convulsive zone of Eastern Europe where what the West calls an invasion is beginning and that Russia declares as a recognition of independence.
“It is likely that this very Monday Vladimir Putin will announce that he recognizes independence, but it is prudent to wait because he can change the decision. You have to be aware of what is going to happen”, commented the Russian internationalist from the Icesi University, Vladimir Rouvinski.
Russian annexation of Donbas, a fact?
Russia convened a Security Council on Monday to determine the timetable for recognize the independence of the Donbas region, where 800,000 Russian citizens liveaccording to figures provided by the Kremlin during a press conference.
Putin’s determination is known minutes following Downing Street sent an alert that, supposedly, Russia had already begun the invasion of Ukraine. On Sunday night, the White House indicated that the raid had already been ordered.
The director of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, stated that “we must defend the sovereignty of our country. As for the Ukrainian people, what is happening there, we know that it was not they who organized it, but the United States, that is why the only country with which we should negotiate is the United States. As for the people’s republics of Donetsk and Luganskthe town suffered a lot and we cannot continue allowing it”.
Valentina Matviyenko, president of the Upper House of Parliament, stated that “the conflict is needed by the West, Ukraine is a bargaining chip that only thinks regarding helping its friends in the West.” Other voices from the Duma and the Kremlin expressed that the only thing that Russia did to Ukraine was to supply them with gas for free.
In the name of “sovereignty”
Both Russia and Ukraine and their Western allies – the United States, the United Kingdom, NATO and the European Union – cite the same term to justify what is happening on that Eastern European border: sovereignty.
Vladimir Putin talks regarding recognizing the independence of the cities of Donetsk and Lugansk in the name of the emancipation of the pro-Russian people who reside there, while Ukraine appeals for the domination of a territory that on paper belongs to it, referring to its own autonomy as a country.
It is still early to know for sure what is happening between Russia and Ukraine. Diplomatic channels remain open, there will be a summit between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden on Thursday February 24 in Brussels and the Kremlin indicated that it will make a final decision on the Donbas “independence” in the course of the day.
Meanwhile, the White House spoke this Monday of an “extremely violent” operation and he speaks of intelligence information that would suggest that “there will be an even greater form of brutality.” The Transatlantic Alliance, for its part, stated that there will be a “large-scale attack.”
