Why is Ukraine so important to Putin?
2:22
(CNN) --
Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to recognize Ukraine's eastern breakaway territories as independent could be the opening thrust of a possible larger military operation targeting Ukraine, say nearly a dozen US and US officials. Westerners to CNN.
"This is Potemkin politics," a senior administration official told reporters on Monday.
"President Putin is accelerating conflict that he himself created."
The United States expects Russian troops to advance into Ukraine's Donbas region as soon as Monday night or Tuesday, after Putin recognized the two pro-Moscow territories as independent, a senior US official familiar with the matter told CNN. with the latest information.
Civilians in Lviv train for a possible Russian attack 1:45
The United States continues to see preparations for a possible wide invasion, including the loading of amphibious ships and the loading of equipment for air units.
U.S. and Western officials said Putin's decision to sign the decree, which proclaims the Russian-backed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) and the Russian-backed Luhansk People's Republic (LNR) as independent territories, gave Putin the justification he needed. he wanted to send in Russian forces and potentially wage a broader assault on Ukraine in the name of protecting breakaway regions.
Why is Donbas at the center of the Ukraine crisis?
The Kremlin announced Monday night local time that Russia would send "peacekeeping" forces to the breakaway territories, confirming the worst fears of many officials.
advertising
"That's their invasion," said a European diplomat.
"If we don't act on this as we have said we would in case of a new invasion, we will have seriously undermined our credibility," the diplomat said.
Still, in a call with reporters the senior administration official suggested that the mere movement of new Russian "peacekeeping" forces into eastern Ukraine would not by itself trigger the full package of sanctions that the administration has threatened in the event of a Russian invasion, noting that "there have been Russian forces present in these areas" since 2014.
When did Ukraine belong to Russia and when did it break away?
"So we're going to be looking very closely at what they do in the coming hours and days and our response will be measured according, again, to their actions," the official said.
The official said that "it now appears that Russia is going to operate openly in that region, and we will respond accordingly."
The official declined to identify which line Russian troops would have to cross in eastern Ukraine for a new invasion to be considered.
The White House said Monday that Biden would impose new financial restrictions on the breakaway republics, and a senior administration official told reporters that more measures would be announced on Tuesday.
But some officials say the sanctions don't go far enough, especially given Biden's assertion last month that "if any -- any -- of the assembled Russian units move across the Ukrainian border, that's an invasion”, and “will be answered with a severe and coordinated economic response”.
"We are in a completely new era"
Putin formally signed the decree and ordered the entry of the forces after a lengthy speech in which he called the situation in Ukraine's Donbas region "critical" and suggested that Ukraine was planning an attack on Russia.
"The United States and NATO brazenly turned Ukraine into a theater of potential military action against Russia," Putin said in his remarks, which lasted nearly an hour.
"Now we are in a completely new era," said a Western diplomat.
"This kills Minsk. It's not clear where we go from here. It's a very dangerous time because we don't know what Putin will do next."
The Minsk Agreement is a framework for peace in eastern Ukraine that the United States and its allies have been urging Russia to implement and adhere to since 2015, when the agreement was first crafted amid bloody clashes between Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists in Donbas.
What are the Minsk agreements and do they represent a way out of the crisis in Ukraine?
The officials said the United States had anticipated Putin recognizing the breakaway republics as he has been steadily massing more forces near Ukraine's borders.
"We knew this was going to happen," a US official said, adding that "this is exactly what we have been predicting: that he would find a pretext to justify further action."
Press secretary Jen Psaki echoed that sentiment Monday.
"We have anticipated a move like this by Russia and are prepared to respond immediately," Psaki said in a statement, also outlining a new executive order that President Biden will sign imposing financial restrictions on breakaway territories.
Putin's decision put the United States and its allies in a delicate position with regard to imposing consequences, several of the officials said.
While the Biden administration will impose a sanction on Putin for his recognition of breakaway republics, the West also wants to maintain the threat of more aggressive sanctions as a way to deter large-scale invasion.
The US says it has information about a 'kill list' created by Russia in the face of a potential invasion of Ukraine
"To be clear: these measures are separate from and would be in addition to the swift and harsh economic measures we have been preparing in coordination with allies and partners in the event of Russia's invasion of Ukraine," Psaki said in his statement.
Still, US and Western officials said they expected stronger sanctions to be imposed, and soon.
"I hope it's just an opening salvo," another European diplomat said of sanctions announced by the White House on Monday in response to Putin's recognition of Luhansk and Donetsk.
"I expect a punch, not a finger pointing at them," the diplomat added.
A European defense official, for his part, said that Putin's recognition of the breakaway republics was probably not his ultimate goal.
"It will be the opening of the offense, not a 'let's see what happens,'" the officials said.
"If he goes to war, he will have to achieve his goals quickly and start preparing for 'peace' negotiations with the West."
-- Oren Liebermann, Katie Bo Lillis and Sebastian Shukla contributed reporting.
Ukraine