Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the country’s Paralympic team ahead of the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games via a video link in Moscow, Russia February 21, 2022. Sputnik/Alexey Nikolsky/Kremlin via REUTERS
February 21, 2022
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The leaders of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, on Monday asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognise them as independent.
Should Russia take that step, it could pave the way for Moscow to openly send military forces into both regions, using the argument that it is intervening as an ally to protect them against Ukraine.
(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh and Maria Kiselyova; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
