Vladimir Putin made his troops cross the Rubicon.
More exactly the Ukrainian border.
The President of the Russian Federation issued a decree ordering his troops to return to the separatist republics of Ukraine whose independence he recognized for a “peacekeeping” operation.
An invasion that does not say its name.
The two decrees of the Russian president ask the Ministry of Defense that “the armed forces of Russia (assume) the functions of peacekeeping on the territory” of the “people's republics” of Donetsk and Lugansk.
No timetable for deployment or its extent was announced in these documents, which each take up one page and have been published on the site of the Russian database of legal texts.
According to several media sources, Russian troops are already in the process of returning to Ukrainian territory.
#Ukraine: Footage of #Russia's military “peacekeepers” being bussed in to the Donbas across the border.
This is essentially the beginning of the invasion.
pic.twitter.com/7pUgkJrJzQ
— Jake Hanrahan (@Jake_Hanrahan) February 21, 2022
In this still somewhat cloudy context, at the Elysée, new Russian “military events” were not excluded, at the very end of the evening.
“Firm” and “quick” response
Russia has for weeks deployed hundreds of thousands of troops to Ukraine's borders which the West says are ready to invade their neighbor.
The recognition of the independence of the two territories opened the way to a Russian military deployment at their request.
Vladimir Putin has also signed mutual aid agreements with these two separatist entities which, with the support of Russia, have been fighting the Ukrainian armed forces for eight years.
President Vladimir Putin's decision to recognize separatist territories in Ukraine contradicts Russia's "commitment" to diplomacy and deserves a "firm" and "swift" response, US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said. .
"We strongly condemn President Putin's decision to recognize the so-called people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent," the US secretary of state said in a statement, calling the Russian maneuvers "a clear attack on sovereignty. and territorial integrity of Ukraine".
“This decision is a complete rejection of Russia's commitments under the Minsk agreements and directly contradicts Russia's purported commitment to diplomacy,” Antony Blinken said.