Russian President Vladimir V. Putin recognised the independence of two territories in Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, further escalating tensions in what western nations fear could lead to one of the biggest conflicts in Europe since World War II.
The recognition was indicated by the Kremlin in a statement summarising Putin’s phone calls on Monday with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany.
In an address to the nation later, Putin made the announcement recognising the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic.
The Kremlin had said earlier: “The President of Russia said that he intended to sign the relevant decree in the near future. The President of France and the Federal Chancellor of Germany expressed their disappointment with this development. At the same time, they indicated their readiness to continue contacts.”
Putin’s phone calls with the German and French leaders came after an extraordinary session of the Russian Security Council at which Putin accused the US and its allies of using Ukraine “as an instrument of confrontation” with Russia, and said it posed “a serious, very big threat to us”.
The move is a high-stakes gambit by Putin that threatens to engage Russia and Ukraine in a deadly military conflict while sharply escalating Moscow’s conflict with the West.
The separatist enclaves claim all of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions as their territory, while controlling only about one-third of them. Russia has conducted an enormous troop build-up to Ukraine’s north, east and south, which western officials say could be used to conduct a large-scale invasion.
Earlier on Monday, Russian state television showed video of the Russian-backed leaders of separatist territories in eastern Ukraine appealing directly to Putin to recognise their independence. Russia’s lower house of Parliament passed a resolution making such an appeal to Putin last week.
The act of recognition is fraught with meaning because the borders claimed by the Russia-backed leaders of the two breakaway regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, extend beyond territory they now control, and spill over into space controlled by the Ukrainian army.
Russia’s recognition of the two regions could allow separatist leaders to request military help from Russia, further easing a path for a military offensive, Ukrainian officials say. Ukraine would likely interpret that as Russian troops entering Ukrainian territory.
The conflict in the separatist regions began in 2014, when rebels loyal to Russia seized government buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk.