Putin Recognizes Donetsk and Luhansk As Independent, Lays Claim to All of Ukraine: In a fiery speech to the Russian people, President Vladimir Putin laid out the recognition of the independence of two Russian-backed proxy territories in eastern Ukraine and then took it a step farther by claiming all of Ukraine is actually part of Russia.
Russian state television showed Putin signing decrees recognizing the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics at the Kremlin, which were carved out when Russia created a separatist war in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Putin continued the fallacy that the Ukrainian government posed a dire threat to Russia and immediately signed “friendship and mutual assistance” treaties, which opens the door for these proxy Russian territories to request Russian military support to stem the threat of Ukrainian invasion and aggression.
These so-called People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk claim about three times the territory that they currently occupy. So, the issues over what happens next will no doubt be revealed in short order.
Referring the pro-Western government of Ukraine in Kyiv as US puppets, Putin made no secret that the Russian aims lay much farther than the breakaway territories.
“As for those who captured and are holding on to power in Kyiv: We demand that they immediately cease military action,” Putin said, as if the Ukrainians are the aggressors. “If not, the complete responsibility for the possibility of a continuation of bloodshed will be fully and wholly on the conscience of the regime ruling the territory of Ukraine.”
Putin stated in his speech that Ukraine doesn’t have a history, but owes its history to the Communist regime of the Soviet Union. “Modern-day Ukraine was in full and in whole created by Russia, Bolshevik, Communist Russia to be precise,” he said.
“As a result of Bolshevik policy, Soviet Ukraine arose, which even today can with good reason be called ‘Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s Ukraine‘. He is its author and architect. This is fully confirmed by archive documents … And now grateful descendants have demolished monuments to Lenin in Ukraine. This is what they call decommunization. Do you want decommunization? Well, that suits us just fine. But it is unnecessary, as they say, to stop halfway. We are ready to show you what real decommunization means for Ukraine.”
Stating that the United States was the perpetrator of all of the issues in Ukraine, Putin claimed that the US was to blame for trying to push Ukraine into NATO.
“Why was it necessary to make an enemy out of us?” Mr. Putin said, repeating his long-held grievances about NATO’s eastward expansion. “They didn’t want such a large, independent country as Russia. In this lies the answer to all questions.”
The entire farce played out on Russian television as frequent reports cited Ukrainian aggression against these contested regions, alleging that Ukrainian artillery was shelling civilian targets, while the exact opposite was happening. The leaders of Donetsk and Luhansk then both issued similar appeals to Russia to recognize them and come to their aid.
Putin’s former bodyguard and now head of the National Guard Viktor Zolotov confirmed that Russia won’t stop until all of Ukraine is back under Russian control.
“We don’t have a border with Ukraine — we have a border with America, because they are the masters in that country,” Mr. Zolotov said. “Of course we must recognize the republics, but I want to say that we must go farther in order to defend our country.”
Unconfirmed reports surfaced that Russian military units are already entering into the separatist territories in eastern Ukraine in what Putin termed a “peace-keeping mission”. Local residents told the Guardian that a large convoy of armored vehicles were entering into the country.
President Joe Biden has ordered the US Embassy in Ukraine to move its personnel temporarily to Poland. They had earlier evacuated the capital of Kyiv and relocated to the western city of Lyiv.
Steve Balestrieri is a 1945 National Security Columnist. He has served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer before injuries forced his early separation. In addition to writing for 19fortyfive.com, he has covered the NFL for PatsFans.com for more than 10 years and his work was regularly featured in the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle and Grafton News newspapers in Massachusetts.
