Putin said he would make a decision on Monday. But Putin ended his remarks without saying what it would be. The announcement comes amid growing Western fears that Russia, which has deployed about 150,000 troops along its border with Ukraine, is preparing for an offensive.
The Russian State Duma has already asked Putin to recognize the independence of both Russian – speaking territories. Senior officials, including the defense minister, called on Putin to take action on Monday. The head of the Federal Security Service said security in Donbass was deteriorating and that more than 70,000 people had been evacuated from the region to Russia.
Here are some examples of how these two rebel areas in eastern Ukraine have become closer to Russia since the conflict began in 2014.
Russian passport
In April 2019, President Vladimir Putin gave Donbass residents the opportunity to apply for citizenship. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday that Moscow had issued 800,000 Russian passports to residents.
The European Union (EU) has said in a statement that the move was an attack on Ukrainian sovereignty. In addition, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky called for more sanctions against Moscow. In May 2021, Selensky described the move as Moscow’s first step towards amalgamation of territory.
Financial support
In 2016, a senior official in the Donetsk People’s Republic told Reuters that Russia was directly paying pensions and salaries in two rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine, the Indian Express reported. But after the outbreak of war, Kiev (the capital of Ukraine) stopped paying public wages to people living in areas controlled by separatists. Most of the big industries that Donbass relied on for revenue were shut down. But Moscow also says it does not provide capital to rebel governments.
Russian ruble, education
Both regions chose the Russian ruble as their official currency. Ukrainian hryvnia abandoned. Instead of teaching the Ukrainian curriculum, schools in these regions now follow the Russian national curriculum. June 12, 2021 was celebrated as Donetsk People’s Republic of Russia Day. This day is a national holiday in Russia to commemorate Russia’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
Trade agreement
At the end of 2021, Putin ordered the Russian government to lift restrictions on the export and import of goods between Russia and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russian officials have said the move is aimed at resolving the economic barrier between the region, Ukraine and other parts of the world.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has warned the Russian Foreign Ministry that Putin’s order is “a serious interference in Ukraine’s internal affairs.”
Support for the ruling party
Putin’s ruling United Russia campaigned in the Moscow – backed rebels in eastern Ukraine ahead of the September 2021 parliamentary elections.
When Kiev presented the move as a form of “Russianization”, Moscow made it clear that it was not uncommon for people of Russian and Ukrainian nationalities to vote in Russian elections. Russian voters in the Donbass are also overwhelmingly supportive of the ruling party.
Kovid-19 vaccine
In January 2021, local authorities in Donetsk announced that Russia had begun distributing the Sputnik V vaccine against Kovid to the rebel – controlled Donetsk despite the Kiev ban. However, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which sells the Sputnik vaccine abroad, said Sputnik was not distributed in the Donetsk or Lugansk regions.
Russia’s new move is paving the way for the deployment of Russian troops in rebel-held Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Countries, including the US, are concerned that the move could allow Russian troops to quickly enter eastern regions. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson has said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s sovereignty is a blatant violation of international law. At the same time, the European Union came out in solidarity with Ukraine. The latest developments come after US President Joe Biden warned that Russia was trying to invade Ukraine by deploying 1.5 million troops.
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