The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, He said this Monday that he will study together with the Security Council the request for recognition made by the self-proclaimed republics of eastern Ukraine.
“We are going to decide our future steps in that direction, also taking into account the request of the leaders of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk for the recognition of their sovereignty and the request of the Russian Duma (Lower House) on the same issue” Putin said at an enlarged meeting of the Security Council.
The leaders of the self-proclaimed people’s republics of Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (PLR), in eastern Ukraine, today asked the head of the Kremlin to recognize them as independent states. According to Putin, the Ukrainian authorities do not plan to comply with the Minsk agreements for settlement in eastern Ukraine and say so openly. “The Kiev authorities are not going to comply with it (the Minsk Agreement). Furthermore, they have already said it publicly many times, both at the highest level and at the level of foreign ministers and the Security Council,” he maintained.
At the same time, he added that “Russia has made and continues to make efforts to resolve all difficult moments” in a peaceful manner, but – he indicated – “today we have what we have.”
The Russian leader added that the West’s use of Ukraine as a tool of confrontation with Russia is a threat to Moscow. “The use of Ukraine as a tool of confrontation with our country, with Russia, represents a serious and very serious threat to us,” Putin said.
Ukraine out of NATO, for now
He pointed out that this is why in recent months Russia has intensified its work with the main partners in Washington and NATO to agree on security measures and guarantee stability.
“For us, this is task number one, it is a priority. Not to confrontation, but to guarantee security and the conditions for development”, he asserted.
In the security measures required from the US and NATO, for Russia it is essential that the Atlantic Alliance commits itself not to incorporate Ukraine.
In this way; Putin assured that his American counterpart, Joe Biden, assured him that Ukraine will not become a member of NATO tomorrow and that a “moratorium” on this aspiration of the neighboring country is possible.
“The American colleague assured that Ukraine will not be accepted (into NATO) tomorrow; moreover, some kind of moratorium is possible”, he pointed.
According to Putin, “they (the allies) believe that Ukraine is not ready right now. That is why we believe that this (Ukraine’s non-inclusion in NATO) is not a concession to us”, but the Alliance’s own plan, “a moratorium for the allies themselves”.