Putin orders forces to ‘maintain peace’ in eastern Ukraine

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered forces 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 underway.

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 an unjust breach of world order.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden “will soon issue an Executive Order that will prohibit new investment, trade, and financing” in the regions, or on anyone “determined to operate in those areas of Ukraine.”

She said those measures would be separate from tougher sanctions the US is preparing in case of a Russian invasion.

In a joint statement, European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel called it “a blatant violation of international law” and said, without elaborating, that the bloc “will react with sanctions.” Leaders of France and other nations condemned the move as well.

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 justified his decision in a far-reaching, pre-recorded speech blaming NATO for the current crisis and calling the US-led alliance an existential threat to Russia.

Sweeping through more than a century of history, he painted today's Ukraine as a modern construct that is inextricably linked to Russia. He 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.

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