Russia Will Recognize 2 Separatist Regions in Ukraine, Kremlin Says

"MOSCOW — The Kremlin said Monday that President Vladimir V. Putin would recognize the independence of two territories in Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, further escalating tensions in what Western nations fear could lead to one of the biggest conflicts in Europe since World War II.

The announcement was made by the Kremlin in a statement summarizing Mr. Putin’s phone calls on Monday with President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany.

“The president of Russia said that he intended to sign the relevant decree in the near future,” the Kremlin said. “The president of France and the Federal Chancellor of Germany expressed their disappointment with this development. At the same time, they indicated their readiness to continue contacts.”

Mr. Putin was expected to deliver an evening address to the nation later on Monday.

Mr. Putin is recognizing the territories’ independence, the Kremlin said, in the face of “the military aggression of the Ukrainian authorities,” as a result of which “the civilian population is suffering.”

Ukraine denies having any plans to launch a military offensive against the separatist regions and says Russia is staging acts of Ukrainian aggression to justify an incursion.

His phone calls with the German and French leaders came after an extraordinary session of the Russian Security Council at which Mr. Putin accused the United States and its allies of using Ukraine “as an instrument of confrontation” with Russia. He said it posed “a serious, very big threat to us.”

The move is a high-stakes tactic by Mr. Putin that threatens to engage Russia and Ukraine in a deadly military conflict and sharply escalate Moscow’s conflict with the West.

The separatist enclaves claim all of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions as their territory, while controlling only about one-third of them. It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Putin would recognize the enclaves in their de facto borders or would seek to expand them by force.

Earlier on Monday, Russian state television showed video of the Russian-backed leaders of separatist territories in eastern Ukraine appealing directly to Mr. Putin to recognize their independence. Russia’s lower house of Parliament passed a resolution making such an appeal to Mr. Putin last week."