The issues of recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics are closely linked to global security issues in the world and in Europe in particular, as stated by the Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at an extraordinary meeting of the Security Council, which is being held publicly for the first time.
At the meeting, the country’s leader listened to the opinion of the Security Council participants in order to determine “further steps in this direction,” RBC reports.
As reminded, on January 19, a group of deputies from the Communist Party submitted to the State Duma a draft appeal to the President, calling on him to recognize the DPR and the LPR. The parliamentarians stated that this would ensure “guarantees of security and protection of peoples from external threats and the implementation of the policy of genocide” in relation to the inhabitants of the republic.
Then a similar initiative was prepared by the United Russia party, but, unlike the Communists, members of this party proposed to send the initiative first to the country’s Foreign Ministry. On February 15, by a majority vote, the deputies decided to send the project directly to Putin.
On February 21, the heads of the republics also appealed to Putin to recognize their independence in order to avoid further victims of Ukrainian aggression. The appeals were announced a few days after the announcement of the evacuation of civilians from Donbass to Russia due to fears of further escalation of the already sharply deteriorated situation.
Ukraine stresses that the recognition of the independence of the DPR and the LPR will be a violation of the Minsk agreements. Russia, in turn, points out that Ukraine itself does not comply with the Minsk agreements, opens fire on civilians and avoids dialogue with the republics, in connection with which the conflict has not been resolved for 8 years.
Key issues of the meeting
The President emphasized that Russia from the very beginning did everything to resolve all the contradictions that have arisen between Kiev and the Donbass by peaceful means. The Kiev authorities twice carried out military punitive operations in these territories. And now there is an aggravation of the situation for the third time.
The issue of Donbass is closely connected with the global problems of ensuring security in the world in general and on the European continent in particular because the use of Ukraine as an instrument of confrontation with Russia. However, the Western countries are not ready to force Kiev to achieve the implementation of the Minsk agreements, the Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said.
- Speaker of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, on behalf of the deputies, appealed to the President to support the appeal of the chamber on the recognition of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics;
- The head of the Federation Council, Valentina Matviyenko, in addition to political arguments, also cited humanitarian ones and talked about poor women and children who need Russia’s support;
- Appeals for the recognition of the DPR and LPR must be supported in order to protect the people who live there, according to the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Patrushev, is sure;
- The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, agrees that Ukraine does not intend to comply with the Minsk agreements, so he supported the proposal to recognize the independence of the DPR and LPR;
- Russian Interior Minister, Vladimir Kolokoltsev, spoke in favour of recognizing the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics;
- Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu, noted that everyone “is preparing to resolve this issue by force,” so he believes no other choice left except recognition of the republics;
- Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, told that Russia has prepared for the consequences of the DPR and LPR recognition, improved its import substitution and got ready for other issues to be faced, so “if there is no progress” in the situation, LPR and DPR should be recognized, he thinks;
- The Deputy Head of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, stated, there are no signs of improvement in the situation around Donbass, so the only way out in this case is “the recognition of the legal personality of the respective territories.”
“I have heard your opinion. The decision will be made today,” the Russian President said.
Ru-Main, 21.02.2022
Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta
