Russian President Vladimir Putin has missed an opportunity to recognize the sovereignty of the rebel regime in eastern Ukraine, against which he had already been warned by Western governments and demanded again this Monday by separatists in Donbass.
Putin denies any responsibility In the current escalation of the conflict this Monday, during a meeting of the National Security Council, he said his government had done “everything possible” to resolve issues in peaceful ways.
Still, Russian military officials, The company quoted Interfox has reportedly shot dead five people in an armed conflict against a group of “Ukrainian saboteurs”. They added that the clashes took place around 6 a.m. in the border areas and that several Ukrainian vehicles were destroyed. No casualties were reported between the Russian forces.
However, Ukraine has already denied Russia’s claim. Ukrainian officials have denied any involvement in the Rostov region, and have denied allegations that a Ukrainian group attacked a Russian base in the same area.
The Russian president is questioning Western policy, while continuing to demand security guarantees to rule out potential threats to the Russian region. Moscow has not yet received a satisfactory response to the necessary guarantees and has not rejected the new approaches.
In this sense, Putin pointed out during a meeting of the National Security Council that “problems” in securing security, especially in Europe, were related to the sovereignty of the rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine. Putin promised his listeners his views on recognizing the independence of the two regions, thus opening the door to a new situation.
Insurgents in the Donetsk and Lukansk administrations have openly called on Putin to take the initiative and recognize the independence of the territories, as proposed by the lower house of the Russian parliament last week. The United States, NATO and the European Union have already warned that this could be a red line as tensions escalate.
The separatist leaders Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, and Lugansk, Leonid Pasechnik, believe that Moscow needs to provide them with new legislation to protect the population and civilian infrastructure from the “occupation” of the Ukrainian military. He also raised the possibility of strengthening Bush’s security cooperation, according to the Sputnik news agency.
Insurgents have controlled much of the Donbass region since 2014, largely as a result of Russian support. In these last days, Kiev has been accused of ordering new indiscriminate attacks, in the same criticism that it has expressed, but in the opposite direction, by the Ukrainian government.
Moscow invited Kiev to speak directly with the rebels, something that Ukrainian authorities have always rejected, opting for the so-called Normandy format, which includes France and Germany, in addition to Ukraine and Russia.
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov announced that he would meet with his US envoy in Geneva on Thursday in Putin’s presence. Anthony Blingen, Should try to reduce tensions. An agreement in principle on the summit between Putin and US President Joe Biden was announced this Monday.
The head of Russian diplomacy noted that “there is progress in liaison with Western authorities on security matters.” “They are not substantial, but they are,” he declared.