The recognition of the Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) People’s Republics is the first step in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to recolonize the former Russian Empire, the US Ambassador to the UN declared on Monday.
In remarks made at a UN Security Council emergency meeting on the Ukraine crisis, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield asserted that the signing of the agreement to formally recognize the independence of the DPR and LPR constituted an evident breach of Ukrainian sovereignty by Russia, and added that this absorption would not be a stand-alone event.
“Today, President Putin has torn the Minsk agreements to shreds. We have been clear that we do not believe he will stop at that,” the American diplomat said, referring to Russia’s decision to put an end to the historic accord with Ukraine that agreed Moscow would end its presence in the Donbass.
Monday’s decision to recognize the republics’ independence constitutes a “clear violation of international law and Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Thomas-Greenfield declared.