FLY. It is 8:38 pm in Moscow. Vladimir Putin recognizes the two separatist “republics” of the Donbass. He signs a decree in front of state TV cameras. Then, he orders the Russian armed forces to deploy in that part of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian rebels. The goal is to “keep the peace,” in the Kremlin’s version. But the decision is another step towards war.
Putin’s move still raises the level of the clash with Ukraine, in an escalation that began in November and which now sees Russia deploying 190,000 soldiers on the border with the neighboring country. The Russian president’s decision to recognize the self-proclaimed “republics” of Donetsk and Lugansk is immediately condemned by the international community, with the US and even the EU threatening new sanctions.
In his long speech on TV, Putin reiterates that he considers Kiev’s entry into NATO to be a threat and, with words steeped in rhetoric and propaganda, declares that “modern Ukraine was created by Russia” and “has already lost its sovereignty. “Becoming servant” of the western masters “.
It is the gravestone on the Minsk agreements, ratified seven years ago to try to put an end to the conflict in Donbass: the area of Ukraine’s south-east where Russia has long been accused of militarily supporting the separatists in the conflict that broke out eight years ago and in which it is estimated that more than 14,000 people have lost their lives.
Faced with a challenge of this level, Western diplomacies have lost some of their shyness. “If there is annexation, there will be sanctions. And if there is an acknowledgment »of the separatists« I will put the sanctions on the table and the ministers will decide », said the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell. The White House has announced that the Americans will be banned from new investments “in the breakaway regions of Ukraine” and that “soon” there will be “additional measures”. The Russian initiative is also condemned by France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain and NATO, while for its part the UN had already asked Moscow to “refrain” from “any unilateral decision” that would undermine the “integrity” of the Ukraine.
Putin’s decision had been in the air for a few hours already, when in a meeting of the Russian Security Council carefully planned and broadcast on state television, the Russian president had listened to the opinions of the country’s senior officials, who one by one. one approached him saying they were in favor of recognizing the separatist “republics”.
The West fears an offensive against Ukraine by Russia, accused of having amassed about 190,000 soldiers not far from the borders with the neighboring country. However, Moscow denies it and says it sees NATO expansion to the east as a threat, asking, among other things, to ban Kiev from joining the alliance.
Meanwhile, diplomacy does not stop working to try to calm the tensions, even if it is not clear what repercussions Putin’s move could have on these efforts. High-level international meetings are currently scheduled for the next few days: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday is expected to speak in Geneva with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and on Friday he is expected in Paris for a face-to-face with the head of French diplomacy. Jean-Yves Le Drian. On the horizon there is a possible summit between Putin and American President Joe Biden promoted by the Elysée. An event that hopefully will allay fears of a war, but on which Moscow held back yesterday morning saying that the summit cannot be ruled out but that there are no concrete plans at the moment.
Meanwhile, in the Donbass, the situation remains extremely delicate and Ukrainians and pro-Russian separatists accuse each other of violating the truce. This is also an informational tug-of-war. Moscow claims that its armed forces “destroyed two Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicles” and “eliminated” five Ukrainian “members of a group of saboteurs” who had violated the Russian border. But from Kiev they firmly deny and speak of “fake news”. “No, Ukraine did not attack Donetsk or Lugansk, it did not send saboteurs or armored vehicles over the Russian border, it did not bomb Russian territory, it did not bomb the Russian border crossing, it did not conduct sabotage”, he said. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba wrote on Twitter, stressing that «Ukraine does not plan actions of this kind».
Western countries doubt that Kiev would have an interest in attacking at a time when Russia is accused of having deployed tens of thousands of soldiers not far from the Ukrainian border, and the US and NATO fear that Moscow is looking for a pretext for a offensive.
Kiev – which yesterday denounced the deaths of two soldiers and a civilian in the bombing – asked for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council and did so by appealing to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, with which Russia, the USA and Great Britain they pledged to guarantee the territorial integrity of Ukraine in exchange for Kiev’s renunciation of the nuclear arsenal inherited from the USSR. An agreement that the Kremlin has already broken in 2014, effectively annexing Crimea with an invasion of armed men and without insignia. By recognizing the breakaway republics, Putin has once again violated Ukrainian territorial integrity.