Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday announced the recognition of two separatist republics in eastern Ukraine -- Donetsk and Lugansk -- as independent, escalating the tension in the region and increasing fears of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
After the announcement, Putin ordered Russian troops into eastern Ukraine in what the Kremlin called a "peacekeeping" mission in the Moscow-backed regions.
United States President Joe Biden signed an executive order blocking trade and investment in parts of Ukraine that have been recognised as independent by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The White House, which described the Russian actions as blatant violation of Moscow's international commitments, said that economic sanctions are in the pipeline.
The European Union too said it would slap sanctions on Russia for recognising Ukraine's breakaway regions.
Putin justified his decision in a pre-recorded speech blaming NATO for the current crisis and calling the US-led alliance an existential threat to Russia.
Blaming NATO Putin said,"If NATO deploys radar equipment in Ukraine, they can control Russian territory. US deployment of some weapons in Ukraine will mean they put knives to Russia's throat. Russia's proposals on security guarantees were rejected out of hand."
"With the expansion of NATO, countries that joined alliance brought their fixations, anti-Russian sentiment to the alliance," he said
"Western weapons coming to Ukraine in an unceasing stream, defiantly; foreign advisers are in charge of the situation. Command of armed forces of Ukraine can directly come from nato headquarters," he added.
Putin further said,"Ukraine's constitution does not allow foreign military bases, but they bypassed it, they call nato base a mission. Kyiv has long proclaimed course toward nato, but there is a principle in international documents not to strengthen security at others' expense.
During his address, he blamed America for "using Ukraine, Georgia to carry out anti-Russian policy."
Putin, in his address, said that the US embassy in Kyiv directly controls anti-corruption activities under the pretext of the effective fight, but corruption is blooming more than ever in the country.
"They again tried to blackmail Russia with sanctions, regardless of the situation in Ukraine, the goal is same- to restrain Russia's development," he said on warning of sanctions on Russia by western countries.
Meanwhile, India has also expressed deep concerns over the escalation of tension along the Russia-Ukraine border and said the developments have the potential to undermine peace and security of the region.
Following Putin's decision, the United Nations Security Council, under Russia's Presidency for the month, held an emergency open briefing called for by Ukraine.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he is "greatly concerned” by Russia's decision related to the status of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.
"The Secretary-General considers the decision of the Russian Federation to be a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and inconsistent with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations,” a statement issued by the spokesperson of the UN chief said.
Guterres called for the peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, in accordance with the Minsk Agreements, as endorsed by the Security Council in resolution 2202 (in 2015).
The powerful 15-nation Security Council was meeting for the third time in recent weeks on the situation in Ukraine as tensions in the region escalated.
US Ambassador to the UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that Putin is “testing our international system, he is testing our resolve and seeing just how far he can push us all. He wants to demonstrate that through force, he can make a farce of the UN. We must act together in response to this crisis.”
Thomas-Greenfield added Putin has announced that he will place Russian troops in these regions.
“He calls them peacekeepers. This is nonsense. We know what they really are. In doing so, he has put before the world a choice. We must meet the moment, and we must not look away,” Thomas-Greenfield said.
“In this moment, no one can stand on the sidelines. We must make it clear that an attack on Ukraine is an attack on the sovereignty of every UN Member State and the UN Charter – and that it will be met with swift and severe consequences. We continue to believe that the diplomatic table is the only place where responsible nations resolve their differences. That is the only place to preserve peace,” she said.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said, "we remain open to diplomacy for a diplomatic solution. However, allowing new bloodbath in the Donbass is something we do not intend to do.
"Unfortunately, we are forced to note the extremely negative role played in all of this by our Western colleagues led by the USA. Instead of forcing Kiev to implement its obligations, they have merely been openly egging Ukraine on repeating the meaningless mantra that the obligations under the Minsk agreement are not being implemented by Russia,” he said.
Ukraine said it demands from Russia to “cancel the decision on recognition” and return to the table of negotiations. “We condemn the order to deploy additional Russian occupation troops in the territories of Ukraine. We demand immediate and complete verifiable withdrawal of the occupation troops.”
Russia's move was strongly condemned by the US, which said that the decision represents a “complete rejection" of Moscow's commitments under the Minsk agreements, directly contradicts Russia's claimed commitment to diplomacy, and is a clear attack on Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Russia's move comes a day after President Biden accepted "in principle" a meeting with President Putin provided Russia does not invade Ukraine.
However, the Kremlin on Monday said it would be premature to talk about the organisation of any such meeting at the moment.
