Crisis in Ukraine: Putin orders his army to enter pro-Russian territories in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered his army to enter separatist territories in eastern Ukraine following recognizing their independence, a move that might lead to war with Kiev.

Of this military deployment, neither timetable nor information on its possible scale were specified in these documents.

Russia has for weeks had tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine’s borders who the West says are ready to invade their neighbor.

In a long televised address, in which he let appear moments of anger, Mr. Putin urged Ukraine to immediately cease “its military operations” once morest the separatists, at the risk of assuming “responsibility for the continuation of bloodshed”.

Russia has some 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders according to the West, raising fears of a major invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognized the independence of the two pro-Russian separatist territories of Ukrainian Donbass and asked “Russia’s armed forces” to assume “peacekeeping functions” in these regions, effectively ending unilaterally, to a laborious peace process initiated since 2015 between Russia and Ukraine in the east of the country.

The gesture, sharply denounced by Westerners, might now to open the door to a Russian invasion of Ukraine by its two regions, an attack that Washington, still considered Monday as being able to be “extremely violent” and this, in order to “crush” the people of the former Soviet republic, according to the national security adviser of the White House, Jake Sullivan.

“It will cost the lives of Ukrainians, Russians, civilians and the military,” he said on the NBC network on Monday morning. Our intelligence suggests that there will be a very great form of brutality because it will not simply be a conventional war between two armies. It will be a war waged by Russia once morest the Ukrainian people to repress them, to crush them, to harm them. »

During a 65-minute address to the nation broadcast on Monday evening, Vladimir Putin described as “necessary” his decision to “immediately recognize the independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic”, two pro-Russian territories. , located in the mining and industrial basin bordering Russia. Sponsored by Moscow, the pro-Russian movement in these regions had not received formal recognition of its self-proclaimed autonomy.

The head of the Kremlin also asked the Duma, the Russian Parliament, “to approve this decision and then to ratify the friendship and mutual aid agreements with the two republics”. In the process, he asked Monday evening “to the armed forces of Russia” to assume “peacekeeping functions on the territory” of these two “People’s Republics”, thus confirming the worst fears of Westerners.

No legal value

On Monday, the leaders of these “republics” demanded this recognition of independence, and called for the establishment of “defense cooperation” to ensure their security in the face of attacks carried out according to them by the Ukrainian army.

“Putin’s allegations that a ‘genocide’ targeting Russian speakers is underway in these territories are totally specious,” summarizes in an interview Lubomyr Luciuk, professor of political science and specialist in Ukraine at the Royal Military College of Canada. It is Ukraine that is defending itself once morest a Russian invasion, and has done so since 2014, not the other way around”.

According to him, this recognition of “separatist republics” has no legal value. “These two entities having no existence in international law. These are Ukrainian lands under Russian military occupation, like Crimea. They are not and never have been independent states recognized by the international community,” he said.

By a cleverly orchestrated staging by the autocratic Russian president who, rare thing, made public the meeting of his Security Council on Monday, Vladimir Putin thus replays the almost similar scenario of the 2008 blitzkrieg once morest Georgia. Moscow had then, following several days of border clashes between the two countries, recognized the independence of the two pro-Russian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Like Ukraine, Georgia has plans to join NATO. It is this prospect of rapprochement towards the West which is at the origin of the current tensions between Moscow, Kiev and the West.

On Monday, the Russian decision was called “another violation of international law and a serious escalation” in the ongoing conflict by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.

“A total Russian invasion of Ukraine becomes more likely every day,” said the organization’s president, Alexandra Chyczij, in a statement sent to the Homework. Both in words and deeds, Putin makes it clear that he seeks to subjugate Ukraine and the Ukrainian people to Russian colonialist oppression.”

Congress asks in passing that “Canada and its allies [de] show unity in the face of Russia’s aggression which is growing exponentially” and calls for “severe dissuasive sanctions once morest the Russian economy and Russian officials” but also a “considerable increase in military and economic aid to Ukraine”.

Indignation

Ottawa granted a loan of 500 million to Ukraine to support it in this crisis and provided 128 million dollars worth of military equipment to the former Soviet republic. The recognition of the independence of the pro-Russian regions of Ukraine by Moscow unsurprisingly aroused the indignation of Western countries, starting with the United States which, while accusing Russia of “flagrant violation” of its commitments international authorities, announced sanctions targeting the two territories on Monday.

The White House announced the issuance of an “executive order that will prohibit any new investment, exchange, or financing by U.S. persons to, from, or within the pro-Russian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, its spokeswoman said. Jen Psaki.

“Let it be clear: these measures are distinct from and would be in addition to the swift and severe economic measures we have prepared in coordination with our allies and partners should Russia further invade Ukraine,” Washington said in a statement. .

While calling for the holding of “an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council”, French President Emmanuel Macron also called for “targeted European sanctions” once morest Moscow and agreed that Russia’s gesture “will not remain not unanswered,” following a phone call with his American and German counterparts.

« L’Union [européenne] reiterates its unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders,” said European Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen , in a joint press release.

As a sign of the gravity of the situation, on Monday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres canceled in extremis a planned visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo this week to return to New York on Tuesday where the diplomatic ballet should continue in the coming days.

With Agence France-Presse

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