Dear CCI Readers,
Again we are grateful to send you Natylie Baldwin’s analysis about Vladimir Putin’s unexpected moves regarding the Donbass yesterday.
These actions will be debated, reviled, resisted, excoriated for years to come. But the endless warring of the past will be over. Hopefully the Donbass will slowly begin to experience the magnificent improvements that Crimea is now showing.
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives
Natylie’s Place: Understanding Russia
Putin Announces Recognition of Independent DPR and LPR, Orders Military to Prepare for Peacekeeping Presence, Foreign Ministry to Formally Establish Ties; West Reacts
February 21, 2022
By Natylie Baldwin
At the end of a special televised announcement on the evening of February 21 (Russia time), Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would formally recognize the DPR and LPR rebel states of East Ukraine as independent. He further instructed the foreign ministry to establish formal ties with the republics and for the Russian military to prepare to send a peacekeeping force to the republics. This all occurred after a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, which recommended the action.
Putin’s announcement starts around the 22 minute mark
As Paul Robinson commented right after the speech, Putin seemed frustrated that it had come to this. I agree that this was not the option that Putin wanted for the Donbas. For over six years, Russia has been pushing for the implementation of the Minsk Agreements that would have resolved the civil war by having the Kiev government grant autonomy to the Donbas. The agreement was signed by France and Germany as well as Ukraine and Russia. However, it has been clear that the Kiev government is politically unwilling to implement the agreement as written. This is largely due to the fact that any leader of Ukraine, even if he wanted to, cannot implement the agreement due to the outsized influence of the ultranationalist forces who have demonstrated their willingness to use violence to block any moves that are perceived as concessions to the Donbas residents or Russia.