Putin signs decree recognizing LPR, DPR
MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree recognizing the independence of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) and the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) at a ceremony in the Kremlin.
The ceremony is being broadcast from the Kremlin by the Rossiya-24 (VGTRK) television channel. The LPR and DPR heads are taking part in the ceremony.
"I consider it necessary to take the long overdue decision to immediately recognize the independence and sovereignty of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic," Putin said before this during his televised address.
"I ask the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to support this decision and then ratify the treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with both republics. These two documents will be prepared and signed in the very near future," he added.
"Russia has done everything to preserve Ukraine's territorial integrity," Putin said.
"All these years (Russia) has persistently and patiently fought for the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2202 of February 17, 2015, which formalized the February 12, 2015 Minsk Package of Measures to resolve the situation in Donbas. All in vain," he said.
"Presidents and deputies of the Rada change, but the essence, the aggressive nationalist nature of the very regime that seized power in Kyiv, does not change. It is entirely a product of the 2014 coup. Those who then embarked on the path of violence, bloodshed, and lawlessness did not recognize and will not recognize any other solution to the Donbas issue than a military one," Putin added.
"The ruling leadership in Kyiv constantly declares its unwillingness to implement the Minsk Package of Measures to resolve the conflict" and is not interested in a peaceful resolution of the crisis, the president said.
"On the contrary, it is again trying to organize a blitzkrieg in Donbas, as it did in 2014-2015. How these adventures ended then, we remember," Putin said.
He noted that now not a single day goes by without shelling of settlements in Donbas, and attack drones, heavy weaponry, missiles, artillery, and multiple rocket launchers are used.
"The killings of civilians, the blockade, and the harassment of people including children, women, and the elderly do not stop. As we say, there is no end in sight. And the so-called civilized world, the only representatives of which our Western colleagues have self-proclaimed themselves to be, prefers not to notice this. As if this horror, this genocide, to which almost four million people are exposed, does not exist," Putin said.