In the wake of new explosions in eastern Ukraine in Donbass, Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a televised address announcing the Russian Federation's recognition of the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk as a possible move.
At the beginning of the sermon, Putin - after speaking of a very deplorable situation in Donbass, insisting on "genocide" - described Ukraine as "an integral part of our history."
References to the USSR and Lenin
"Eastern Ukraine is an ancient Russian land," he said, adding that "modern Ukraine is a creation of communist Russia. Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin caused disadvantages in Russia, creating the state of Ukraine. "Lenin handed over Donbass to the jurisdiction of Ukraine."
"We are ready to show what a genuine de-communistization means," he added.
⚡️Putin: Situation in Donbass becoming critical. # Ukraine is more than a neighbor. It's our mutual history & cultural - it is family pic.twitter.com/kCfHzJtkE2
- RT (@RT_com) February 21, 2022
The Russian president clarified that Moscow did everything it could to help peacefully resolve the differences between the Ukrainian government and the self-proclaimed democracies in Donbas.
"I would like to point out that, from the beginning, Russia has done everything possible to help resolve all emerging issues by peaceful means, in a peaceful way," he said.
Fire against USA
Putin went on to say that "radicals and nationalists take credit for Ukraine's independence, but have nothing to do with it," but that despite injustice and fraud, the Russian people recognized the states after the collapse of the Soviet Union. and helped all countries, including Ukraine. "
Referring to the energy issue, Putin focused on Ukraine's attempt to "steal gas from Russia," referring to a neo-Nazi movement that has developed in the country with "numerous attacks on Russia."
The Russian president also blamed the United States for the incidents in the 2014 uprising in Maidan, stressing that "the protesters had the secret support of the American embassy. "These forces have pushed Ukraine into a civil war."
"Russia has fully repaid Ukraine's debts, but Kiev has refused to comply with the agreements on the return of its property," he said, accusing Kiev of "trying to use the dialogue with Russia for bargains with the West." from the beginning it began to build its statehood on contradictions ".
"Ukraine has never had a real state, it was simply copying models of others," he said, noting that "corruption in Ukraine has destroyed its Ukrainian state, the nationalists took advantage of it in 2014 with the support of the West," but also that "Ukraine is divided, it is going through an acute economic crisis. In 2020, 60.000 scientists left Ukraine. They have no money to live on. This is because of the problems they inherited from the Soviet era. Millions of jobs were lost. "Ukraine has lost its scientific and research staff."
"The radicals who came to power in Ukraine organized terrorism, people were brutally murdered in Odessa, we will do everything to punish these criminals," he added.
Noting that "there is no independent judiciary in Ukraine", he noted that "the Russian language is moving away from all public spaces in Ukraine."
Nuclear
Putin also noted that Ukraine is not only "planning its own nuclear weapons", but "plans to launch a war against the Russians in Donbass."
"It has such know-how (s.s. for nuclear), with a long history in this field and will threaten Russia, especially if it has the support of other countries. And so Europe will be in a state of destabilization. Westerners have shipped billions of dollars in weapons and consultants to Ukraine. All these moves are aimed at Russia. And NATO has done high schools and wants to use facilities in Ukraine to spy on Russian territory from there. Ukraine allows NATO to use its ports on the Black Sea. "The United States wanted to use the facilities in Crimea, but the people of Crimea, in the 2014 referendum, did not allow it," Putin said.
"Western weapons are coming to Ukraine with a steady flow and foreign advisers are provocatively responsible for this situation," he continued.
Ukraine's accession to NATO
Regarding Ukraine's accession to NATO, Putin noted that "the Constitution of Ukraine does not allow foreign military bases, but they bypassed it and called on NATO to set up a base."
"Kiev has long declared its course towards NATO, but there is a principle in international documents not to increase security at the expense of others. The Americans used Ukraine and Georgia to pursue anti-Russian policies. "Ukraine's accession to NATO, not now, but a little later does not change anything for Russia."
Recognized Lugansk and Donetsk
Putin then announced that Russia was recognizing the independence of the republics of Lugansk and Donetsk in the Donbas region, at the request of the two nations.
The sanctions they may impose on us cannot restrain Russia's development. They want to harm our national integrity and interests. They want to wage an instant war with many casualties. Every day they bomb settlements in Donbas. They bring vehicles and heavy weapons. The bombing of civilians does not stop. How can the so-called civilized world and our Western partners tolerate this? The only reason is that the Russians of Donbass did not accept the 2014 coup. They are violating their basic rights, to speak their language. Russia wants to maintain Ukraine's territorial integrity. They have no choice but to use force to resolve the dispute in Donbass. I had to make an immediate decision. I am signing a decree recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk democracies. "I should have done it a long time ago," he said characteristically.
https://t.co/PgQqSaOUZ5
Rapid developments
In the face of dramatic developments, a speech is expected to be delivered by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. Kiev calls for an emergency convening of the UN National Security Council.
In the light of the events in the United States, the National Security Council convened an extraordinary meeting under US President Joe Biden. The United States has said that Moscow is following the "scenario" that led to the invasion of Ukraine, which it has surrounded with almost 75% of Russia's regular military forces.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Chief Diplomat Anthony Blinken, Chief of Staff Mark Miley, and CIA Director William Burns entered the White House shortly after the announcement that for Donbass.
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