Claiming Ukraine as Russia’s, Putin orders troops into enclaves
Published:Tuesday | February 22, 2022 | 12:10 AM
MOSCOW (AP):
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered forces on Monday to “maintain peace” in separatist regions of eastern Ukraine, hours after the Kremlin recognised the area’s independence. The announcement raised fears that an invasion was imminent, if not already under way.
The Kremlin decree, spelled out in an order signed by Putin, left unclear when, or even whether, troops would enter Ukraine. But it brought swift promises of new sanctions from the US and other Western nations and underscored the steep challenges they face in staving off a military conflict they have portrayed as near-inevitable.
The Kremlin’s announcement came just hours after Putin, in a rambling, fact-bending discourse on European history, recognised the independence of the eastern separatist regions, paving the way to provide them military support and antagonising Western leaders who regard such a move as a breach of world order.
The US and other nations scrambled to respond, calling for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Monday night. The White House issued an executive order to restrict investment and trade in the separatist regions, and additional measures – likely sanctions – were to be announced on Tuesday.
Those sanctions are independent of what Washington has prepared in the event of a Russian invasion, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.
The developments came amid a spike in skirmishes in the eastern regions that Western powers believe Russia could use as a pretext for an attack on the western-looking democracy that has defied Moscow’s attempts to pull it back into its orbit.
Putin charged that Ukraine had inherited Russia’s historic lands and after the Soviet collapse was used by the West to contain Russia.
“I consider it necessary to take a long-overdue decision: To immediately recognise the independence and sovereignty of Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic,” Putin said.