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This Ukrainian soldier in Luhansk would be on foreign territory if the region gained independence
Photo: Vadim Ghirda / dpa
Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially recognized the independence of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
This was announced by the Kremlin boss on Monday evening.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron had previously informed about this.
This was preceded by an appeal by the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
This paves the way for Russia to invade the territories.
Putin had already declared the Minsk agreements to have failed in the afternoon.
"We have come to believe that there is no prospect" for the deals, Putin said
.
In the Minsk Agreements mediated by Germany and France in 2014 and 2015 and jointly agreed with Ukraine and Russia, the parties to the conflict in eastern Ukraine committed themselves to several steps to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict.
At a meeting of the Russian Security Council in the afternoon, everyone involved spoke out in favor of recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Russia is aware that the step will have serious consequences in view of the sanctions threatened by the West, said Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev.
In view of the situation, however, there is no other option than to recognize the areas.
The pressure on Russia will be unprecedented.
The hope is that the conflict will cool down afterwards.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov complained that nationalists were in charge in Kiev and that Ukrainian politics there was directed against everything Russian.
There is no progress in resolving the conflict.
Several speakers complained that the government in Kiev was not fulfilling the peace plan for eastern Ukraine, but was instead using it as a means of exerting pressure on Moscow.
Separatists demand military assistance
"I ask you to recognize the sovereignty and independence of the Luhansk People's Republic," said the rebel leader in Luhansk, Leonid Pasechnik, in a video message broadcast on Russian television on Monday.
The separatist leader in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Puschilin, joined the demand.
He also called on Moscow to sign a treaty of friendship and military assistance with the "People's Republic."
This would allow Russia to station thousands of soldiers there, as in the South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions that have broken away from Georgia.
Putin then announced that he would examine the demands for recognition of the "people's republics".
According to his own statements, Olaf Scholz condemned the recognition of the territories in the Donbass in a telephone call to Putin.
Several high-ranking EU politicians had warned the Kremlin against such a step.
Pro-Russian militias have been fighting the Ukrainian army in eastern Ukraine since 2014.
Violence in the region had increased in recent days, fueling fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On Friday, the separatists in the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk called on civilians in the areas they control to leave for Russia.
Then, on Saturday morning, they ordered a "general mobilization."
The situation worsened on Monday.
According to the Russian army, five "saboteurs" coming from the Ukraine were killed on Russian soil.
Russian news agencies had previously reported that a Russian border post had been fired on from Ukraine.
The government in Kiev immediately denied the Russian information about the two incidents.
svs/Reuters/AFP/dpa
