Dismay and condemnation as west begins to impose sanctions on Russia
Leaders denounce Putin’s recognition of breakaway Ukraine regions and call for emergency UN session
Pro-Russian
activists react in a street in Donetsk after Vladimir Putin signed a
decree recognising two Russian-backed breakaway regions in eastern
Ukraine as independent entities. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
Vladimir Putin’s declaration that Russia will recognise
the independence of the breakaway regions of eastern Europe and his
order for Russian troops to cross into those regions was greeted with
dismay and new sanctions from the US and Europe.
There was also alarm at Putin’s warnings of further action against Ukraine as a whole, questioning the country’s legitimacy and suggesting it presented a direct threat to Russia. Many diplomats saw the wide-ranging nature of the speech as a threat of an all-out invasion.
In
Washington, the White House announced the prohibition of US investment
in or trade with the breakaway republics and potential sanctions against
anyone operating within the Moscow-backed territories.
“We
will also soon announce additional measures related to today’s blatant
violation of Russia’s international commitments,” the White House
spokesperson, Jen Psaki, said.
On
Monday night, US secretary of state Antony Blinken confirmed that the
few remaining state department staff had been pulled out of Ukraine and
relocated to Poland for the night, for “security reasons”. US embassy
staff had previously been moved from Kyiv to Liviv.
A
senior US administration official said more sanctions would imposed on
Tuesday and would be proportionate to Russian steps overnight. It was
unclear however if the deployment of “peacekeeping forces” in the
Moscow-backed enclaves would be seen by Washington as an invasion. The
official pointed out that Russian forces had been acting covertly in the
area for eight years.
Boris Johnson spoke to
the Ukrainian president on Monday night. According to Downing Street,
Johnson said the steps taken by Putin made the Minsk peace process begun
in 2014 “unworkable”.
Johnson told Volodymyr
Zelenskiy that he would “explore sending further defensive support to
Ukraine” at the request of the country’s government.
The
prime minister will chair a Cobra meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss
the latest developments, as he warned a Russian invasion could happen
“in the coming hours and days”. A No 10 spokesperson said a “significant
package of sanctions to be introduced immediately” will be discussed.
The
UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said British sanctions would come on
Tuesday “in response to their breach of international law and attack on
Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
The
UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, said the recognition of the
self-styled republics was “a violation of the territorial integrity and
sovereignty of Ukraine and inconsistent with the principles of the
charter of the UN”.
Ukraine has sent a letter
to the Russian mission to the UN, which currently holds the chair of the
security council, demanding an emergency council meeting. The call was
supported by France, the UK, the US, Norway, Ireland, Albania, Mexico
and Brazil. The council chair cannot stop a meeting taking place, and
must hold it within 24 hours of a member state requesting it.
Joe
Biden spoke to Zelenskiy during the second half of Putin’s rambling
near hour-long address, before calling the German chancellor, Olaf
Scholz, and French president, Emmanuel Macron, who had been trying to
arrange a Biden-Putin summit.
France and
Germany are both signatories of the Minsk agreements, a peace deal that
will probably be abandoned as a result of the Russian decision.
In
a statement from the Elysée palace, Macron said Putin’s move was a
breach of international law that had to be met with European sanctions.
France would call “proportionate, targeted sanctions” in Brussels, a official said.
The
official described Putin’s speech as “rigid and paranoid”, and that it
confirmed Macron’s analysis after meeting Putin at the Kremlin earlier
this month that Putin was “not the same” as he had been at their last
meeting in December 2019 in Paris. After the recent meeting, Macron
called Putin “more rigid, and more isolated” than before, and described a
kind of “ideological, security drift”.
Ursula
von der Leyen and Charles Michel, the presidents of the European
Commission and European Council, said: “The recognition of the two
separatist territories in Ukraine is a blatant violation of
international law, the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the Minsk
agreements.”
“The Union will react with sanctions against those involved in this illegal act,” they said.
Alar
Karis, the president of Estonia, said: “Estonia will never accept the
illegal decision by Russia to recognise Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
They are an internationally recognised part of Ukraine, like Crimea.
“Clearly, Moscow is not serious about diplomacy but is looking for casus belli.”
The
Latvian prime minister, Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš, said: “In a gross
violation of international law, under a fabricated pretext, and by
spreading false information, Russia seeks to induce a change in
Ukraine’s political leadership and foreign policy course by violent
means.”
It
appeared likely that Putin’s declaration would mean the cancellation of
a potential summit between Biden and Putin. The Kremlin had earlier played down the prospect of the summit as “premature”, while the US made clear it would not take place if Russia invaded.
At
the end of a meeting of EU foreign ministers, the bloc’s foreign
affairs chief, Josep Borrell, said a package of prepared EU sanctions
would be triggered by Russia’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk
territories, but the extent of the sanctions would reflect “the level of
aggression”.
The EU has threatened “severe costs and massive consequences”
in the event of a further Russian incursion into Ukraine. The package
has yet to be made public but it would involve a block on exports of key
electrical components on which Russia is reliant, potentially an import
ban on Russian oil and gas, and the freezing of assets of individuals
and companies affiliated with the government in Moscow.
The
UN announced it was relocating non-essential staff and the families of
UN officials posted in Ukraine, while bringing in other staff to support
UN operations.