Putin orders troops to Ukraine’s east as Russia recognizes separatists

Moscow – Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent on Monday and ordered the Russian military to launch what Moscow called a peacekeeping operation in the area, upping the ante in a crisis the West fears could unleash a major war.

Putin told Russia’s Defense Ministry to deploy troops into the two breakaway regions to “keep the peace” in a decree issued shortly after he announced recognition for Russia-backed separatists there, drawing U.S. and European vows of new sanctions.

It was not immediately clear the size of the force that Putin was dispatching, when they would cross the border into Ukraine and exactly what their mission would be.

In a lengthy televised address, Putin, looking visibly angry, described Ukraine as an integral part of Russia’s history and said eastern Ukraine was ancient Russian lands and that he was confident the Russian people would support his decision.

Russian state television showed Putin, joined by Russia-backed separatist leaders, signing a decree recognizing the independence of the two Ukrainian breakaway regions along with agreements on cooperation and friendship.

Defying Western warnings against such a move, Putin had announced his decision in phone calls to the leaders of Germany and France earlier, both of whom voiced disappointment, the Kremlin said.

Moscow’s action may well torpedo a last-minute bid for a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine.

Putin signed aid and cooperation pacts with the separatist leaders at a Kremlin ceremony after a televised address to Russians late Monday.

“I consider it necessary to take the long overdue decision to recognize the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic,” Putin said.

He followed up with a demand that the government in Kyiv stop all military action immediately or bear full responsibility for “the possible continuation of bloodshed.” Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of instigating violence as part of a so-called false flag operation to justify intervention.

It’s unclear for now what Putin’s announcement means for the risk of a large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that the U.S. and NATO have warned about for months. They accuse Russia of massing more than 150,000 troops near Ukraine in preparation for a possible attack, something the Kremlin has repeatedly denied. Putin said at a meeting of his Security Council Monday that Russia was not considering the question of annexing the two territories.

The decree is the latest move in Putin’s 20-year campaign to restore Russia’s dominance over its former Soviet neighbors and prevent them forging closer ties with the West, particularly with NATO. The Russian leader has railed against NATO’s expansion into the east and raised the stakes in the latest crisis by demanding the military alliance exclude Ukraine from future membership and roll back its forces to positions they held in 1997.

“The question is now whether the U.S. and its partners are ready to pursue dialog in these new conditions,” said Andrey Kortunov, head of the Kremlin-founded Russian International Affairs Council. “We can say the worst hasn’t happened — a major new war hasn’t started, at least for now — but after the recognition we’re likely to see Russian troops deployed up to the border with the rest of Ukraine and this will be seen as an act of aggression with all the consequences.”

The Russian president’s decision to recognize the separatists effectively torpedoes years of diplomatic efforts to implement a peace accord to resolve a conflict that has killed 14,000 since Russia-backed separatists seized control of the two areas in 2014.

News of the decree drew immediate condemnation from across the European Union, including states located in the bloc’s far east. The U.K. is set to impose sanctions on Russia as soon as Tuesday, and the EU will start the process of agreeing penalties for Putin’s move, diplomats familiar with the conversations said.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Putin’s decision an “ill omen” and “flagrant violation” of the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine. “I don’t know what is in his mind,” he told a Downing Street news conference. “There’s a chance he could row back from this.”

Biden held a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shortly after Putin’s announcement, then convened a call with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the White House said.

Biden’s administration is “ready to respond immediately” with an Executive Order that will ban new trade, investment and financing of the breakaway regions by U.S. citizens, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement. “These measures are separate from and would be in addition to the swift and severe economic measures we have been preparing in coordination with Allies and partners should Russia further invade Ukraine,” she said.

Trade and investment has already plummeted since Russian-backed separatists took control of the regions eight years ago.

Russia’s stocks and the ruble were the worst performers globally on Monday. The ruble weakened to 80 per dollar during Putin’s televised address and stocks slumped as much as 18% in evening trading. Earlier, the benchmark MOEX Russia equity index closed its main trading session down 11%, the biggest drop since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014.

Hours before he spoke on TV, Putin told Macron and Scholz of his intention to sign the recognition decree in calls Monday. The European leaders “expressed disappointment” but showed willingness to continue contacts, according to a Kremlin statement.

The U.S. and its allies have warned that any intervention in Ukraine would prompt swift and severe economic sanctions against Russia, though it’s not certain how far they may go in response to Putin’s decision to recognize the breakaway regions. They have also made clear they would not send troops into Ukraine themselves if Putin attacked.

In his televised address to Russians late Monday, Putin devoted part of his argument to a historical recitation aimed at showing that Russia’s former Soviet neighbors were created by the Bolsheviks and don’t deserve to be considered as genuine independent states.

Recognition of the territories marks the fourth time that Putin has unilaterally redrawn the borders that emerged from the Soviet Union’s collapse 30 years ago. After Russia’s 2008 war with Georgia, it recognized the breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states. In 2014, Putin annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

The decision on recognition came after Russia’s Security Council on Monday endorsed the move at a special meeting. The Kremlin statement didn’t mention the separatists’ request for military aid along with recognition.

Officials who spoke at the meeting urged Putin to recognize the separatists, with some saying the borders of what Russia would now regard as a sovereign and independent state should extend further to include the whole of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces — about 70% of which remain under the control of the government in Kyiv.

Earlier Monday, state television showed appeals from the separatists’ leaders for recognition, calling on the Kremlin to agree to provide military support, as well. Last week, Russia’s parliament voted overwhelming to ask Putin to recognize the breakaway republics.

Putin had long rejected such calls, which would nullify the 2014-2015 Minsk peace accords and with them the potential for reintegrated but newly autonomous pro-Russia regions to influence policy making in Kyiv. It would also transfer the burden of pension payments and reconstruction costs from Kyiv to Moscow.

Russia has granted passports to more than 800,000 residents of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR), which it has supported financially and militarily since their formation in 2014.

In recent days the separatist leaders have said they are under assault by Ukrainian forces in what officials in Kyiv and the West have described as a fabricated narrative, begun after Russia put a massive force in place for a potential attack.

On Monday, Russia said it had killed five Ukrainian saboteurs and destroyed two Ukrainian armored personnel carriers that had entered Russian territory. Ukraine dismissed that claim as fake.

Recognition would at this point be just the first step in a longer chain of events, according to Pavel Danilin, a political analyst close to the Kremlin.

“The DPR will be able to defend itself for several days. This will be enough to recognize their independence and send troops there,” he said. After that, he added, the two newly minted states would be able to demand that Ukraine withdraw its forces from the rest of Donetsk and Luhansk.

“And if there are attempts to deploy American offensive weapons, then other regions will follow,” Danilin said, with the “dismemberment” of Ukraine on the table.