Russian President Vladimir Putin called a meeting of top officials on Monday to discuss the possibility of recognizing the independence of separatist territories in eastern Ukraine backed by Russia.
Separatist leaders urged Putin to recognize them as separate nations and sign friendship treaties considering military help to shield them from what they characterized as a continuing Ukrainian military attack in televised speeches. Last week, Russia’s lower house made the same request. Moscow has developed strong relations with pro-Russian rebels who control large swaths of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas area. Still, it denies being involved in their almost eight-year conflict with Ukrainian government forces.
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed his Security Council that the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic in Donbas should be autonomous. The Kremlin first expressed reluctance to undertake the step, which would break a 2015 peace accord for eastern Ukraine, which was a huge diplomatic triumph for Moscow since it required Ukrainian authorities to grant the rebel territories considerable self-rule.
Even as steady shelling resumed Monday in a battle in eastern Ukraine that Western powers worry might spark a wider war, the US and Russian presidents provisionally agreed to meet in a last-ditch effort to avert a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine. The summit will be canceled if Russia invades, as the US has warned Moscow has already determined.
Nonetheless, the idea of a face-to-face meeting reawakened hopes that diplomacy may avert a catastrophic confrontation that would result in immense fatalities and economic damage across Europe, which is highly reliant on Russian energy.
Edited by- Subbuthai Padma
Published by- Radhika. N
