The Kremlin believes that recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics would be a violation of the Minsk agreements.
This was stated by the press secretary of the President Dmitry Peskov.
Peskov also recalled that Vladimir Putin himself had previously stated that for him, when resolving the situation in the South-East of Ukraine, “the implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures” is important.
Commenting on claims by the Ukrainian leadership that residents of the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass are being issued Russian passports, a Kremlin spokesman noted that they are being granted citizenship of the Russian Federation for “humanitarian reasons.” At the same time, there are no violations of the Minsk agreements here.
Recall that earlier the deputies of the State Duma decided to adopt a resolution on an appeal to the President of the Russian Federation with a proposal to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. In total, the lower house of parliament was considering two similar documents regarding the recognition of the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics – from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and from United Russia. United Russia deputies Viktor Volodatsky and Artem Turov suggested that their colleagues first hold consultations on the draft appeal to the president with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then draw up its text and send it to the foreign affairs departments for approval.
Apparently, such a long process was not approved, since in the end it was decided to adopt a document prepared by the Communist Party. The resolution provides for sending an appeal directly to the President of the Russian Federation. 351 deputies voted for it, 16 against, one parliamentarian abstained.
It is worth noting that at present, serious political and military tensions have developed around the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Western countries, referring to data on troop movements, constantly express fears that Russia might launch an invasion of Ukraine. In this regard, NATO announced the deployment of additional forces to Eastern Europe. Moscow says Russia has no plans to invade Ukraine.
