Moscow/Washington, Feb 23, (dpa/GNA) – Russian President, Vladimir Putin, was confronting a barrage of Western sanctions on Tuesday after taking Europe to the brink of war with his recognition of two rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine.
“Who in the Lord’s name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbour?” US President Joe Biden asked at the White House.
Biden said tough new US sanctions would target two large financial institutions and the country’s sovereign debt, as well as several Russian oligarchs and their family members.
He warned the US was “prepared to go further” should Russia expand its aggression against Ukraine, which he called a “flagrant violation of international law.”
The president also announced that more US troops would be sent to the Baltic states, on NATO’s eastern flank, from elsewhere in Europe. Washington recently deployed 3,000 extra soldiers to Poland and Romania.
Putin dramatically escalated tensions with the West on Monday, by recognizing the independence of Ukraine’s pro-Russia breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. He then ordered troops to enter, claiming they would carry out peacekeeping duties.
“This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Biden said in justifying the move, adding that Washington believes Russia is poised to launch “a massive military attack against Ukraine.”
Yet at the end of his brief White House address, Biden said: “I’m hoping diplomacy is still available.”
Later on Tuesday, US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken announced he cancelled a planned meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in light of Moscow’s recent actions, saying that it no longer made sense to hold those talks.
Washington’s European allies had earlier announced their own sanctions over Russia’s deployment of troops into Donetsk and Luhansk with Canada following suit.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said some Russian troops were already in Ukraine’s Donbass, the contested eastern region that has been the flashpoint of eight years of simmering conflict between Western-equipped government forces and Moscow-backed rebels.
“Every indication is that Russia continues to plan for a full-scale attack on Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said on Tuesday in Brussels.
In one of the most significant international punishments inflicted so far, the German government put the controversial Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline on hold.
Washington had long been opposed to the Baltic Sea pipeline, arguing it gives Putin far too much leverage over the continent’s energy security.
The European Union unanimously agreed with new sanctions that target the Russian lawmakers who voted in favour of the recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk rebel areas, plus 27 individuals and entities who threaten Ukrainian territory and sovereignty.
These individuals include key figures in business, media and politics. “The oligarchs, in plain language,” top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said.
In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Putin appeared set on “overrunning” Ukraine. He told parliament five Russian banks and three “very high net wealth” individuals would be hit, calling it only the first in a wave of penalties that would hit Russia.
The sanctioned oligarchs are Gennadiy Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and his nephew Igor Rotenberg. All three businessmen are considered close allies of Putin.
Western powers believe that Putin’s deployment of so-called peacekeepers to Donbass is just a guise for a military assault and perhaps the first step towards trying to take control of wide swathes of Ukraine, including the capital Kiev.
“When troops of one country enter the territory of another country without its consent, they are not impartial peacekeepers, they are not peacekeepers at all,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Tuesday, in rare open criticism of a UN veto power.
Moscow’s description of military support for Ukraine’s rebel-held regions of Donetsk and Luhansk is a “perversion of the concept of peacekeeping.”
In addition, Guterres does not consider the events in eastern Ukraine to be genocide, contrary to what Putin said.
“Genocide is a crime that is clearly defined… I do not think it is the case [here],” the UN chief said.
In what analysts described as an ominous sign, the upper house of the Russian parliament on Tuesday gave its legal approval to the use of military force abroad.
A resolution calling for “the use of armed forces outside
Russia” was unanimously supported by the 153 members of the Federation Council.
Later, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced it was evacuating its staff at the embassy in Kiev and consulates elsewhere in Ukraine “for the protection of their life and security.”
The moves came on top of Putin declaring the Minsk peace process was at a dead end. The plan was first drafted in 2014 and aimed to provide a roadmap to ending the violence in eastern Ukraine.
The accord was never fully implemented, but some had seen it is a possible blueprint to de-escalating the current tensions, which erupted late last year when Russian began to amass some 150,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders.
Kiev and the rebels continued to trade accusations of shelling on Tuesday.
But contradicting NATO, Moscow and the separatists in Donetsk deny that Russian soldiers are present in Donetsk and Luhansk, which sit in the wider Russian-speaking Donbass region.
Meanwhile, Moscow has established diplomatic ties with Donetsk and Luhansk, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday, claiming that the move was in the interest of “strengthening peace, regional stability and security.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that he did not see an increased risk of war despite Russia’s recognition of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics in eastern Ukraine.
“We believe that there will be no major war against Ukraine,” the head of state said after a meeting with Estonian counterpart Alar Karis in Kiev on Tuesday. However, he said martial law would be imposed in the event of an escalation.
GNA