Live blog: Ukraine crisis

 

Live blog: Ukraine crisis

https://www.politico.eu/article/live-blog-ukraine-invasion-putin-donetsk-luhansk/

 

Western countries scramble to coordinate response as Russia sends ‘peacekeeping’ troops into breakaway Ukraine regions.

 

UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT

BY POLITICO

February 22, 2022 12:41 am

 

Western-allied countries are working to coordinate a response after Russia on Monday moved to recognize two breakaway Ukrainian regions as independent and deploy troops there for “peacekeeping functions” in the latest escalation of the crisis.

 

Leaders from the EU, United Kingdom and United States have pledged to impose sanctions on Moscow over its announcements and called for a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, where overnight many members slammed Russia’s escalation while the Kremlin’s representative continued to push back.

 

FEBRUARY 22, 202210:24 AM

 

Camille Gijs

TIME FOR 'CRIPPLING AND SUSTAINED SANCTIONS' SAYS NATO OFFICIAL

 

NATO Parliamentary Assembly President Gerry Connolly said that the “violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty must be met with crippling and sustained sanctions.”

 

“There are no 'peacekeepers' in Donetsk or Luhansk. These are battle-ready Russian military units, and they are not there for peace,” he tweeted.

 

“No one should be fooled by euphemisms. These are Russian military units occupying the sovereign territory of Ukraine,” he added in a statement.

 

FEBRUARY 22, 202210:19 AM

 

Sarah Anne Aarup

SENIOR UKRAINE REBEL WELCOMES RUSSIA

 

The parliaments of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk and People’s Republic of Luhansk ratified agreements today with Russia for “friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance.”

 

“I express to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin words of sincere gratitude for the support and recognition of Donbass!” said Denis Miroshnichenko, chairman of the People’s Council of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, in a press statement.

 

FEBRUARY 22, 202210:12 AM

 

Stuart Lau

SEND ARMS TO UKRAINE, LATVIA SAYS

 

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs said it remains important for Europeans to help build up Ukraine’s defense capabilities. “I do believe that we need to strengthen Ukraine in any way we can, such as financial assistance but also providing weapons, because what we are seeing [is that] Ukraine is under unprovoked attack, and it’s our moral duty to help them,” Rinkēvičs said on the sidelines of the EU-Indo-Pacific forum in Paris.

 

FEBRUARY 22, 202210:11 AM

 

Jacopo Barigazzi

SANCTIONS LIKELY TO BE AGREED TOMORROW

 

EU sanctions are expected to be formally agreed tomorrow, two EU diplomats say — likely with a written procedure.

 

Today's meeting of foreign ministers in Paris informal, and so can't take formal decisions. Ambassadors, member countries and legal experts will take some time to go through sanction texts, so it will be difficult to conclude them on Tuesday, though major problems are not expected.

 

FEBRUARY 22, 202210:09 AM

 

Cristina Gallardo

BORIS JOHNSON: UK SANCTIONS TO BE ANNOUNCED TODAY

 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the “first barrage of U.K. economic sanctions against Russia” will be revealed in a statement to the House of Commons this afternoon, as he warned “there is more Russian irrational behavior to come.”

 

The U.K. sanctions package will be aimed not just at entities in the breakaway regions but also “in Russia itself, targeting Russian economic interests as hard as we can,” he told broadcasters after chairing an emergency meeting of British senior ministers.

 

The sanctions “will hit Russia very hard and there is a lot more that we are going to do in the event of an invasion,” Johnson added.

 

“Be in no doubt that if Russian companies are prevented from raising capital on the U.K. financial markets, if we unpeel the facade of Russian ownership of companies, of property, it will start to hurt,” he said.

 

The British response will also include shifting further away from Russian oil and gas, Johnson added. Only 3 percent of Britain's gas supplies come from Russia, but the government will seek to reduce this by granting more licenses for U.K. gas reserves and promoting low-carbon energy, including nuclear power.

 

The British leader warned Putin is “bent on a full-scale invasion of the Ukraine, the overrunning, the subjugation of an independent, sovereign European country and I think, let’s be absolutely clear, that will be absolutely catastrophic.”

 

FEBRUARY 22, 202210:04 AM

 

Mark Scott

RUSSIA'S PROPAGANDA MACHINES RAMPS UP

 

Kremlin-backed state media outlets started pumping out scores of news articles, in multiple languages, that promoted any form of international approval of Moscow's recognition of the so-called People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk

 

That included comments from the Syrian government, a close Russian ally, as well as statements from Iran and China, respectively, though the statements from Tehran and Beijing did not go as far as those from Damascus.

 

These state-backed Russian media articles — in English, French, Arabic, Spanish and Russian — quickly garnered a large audience on social media where they were shared, commented on and liked, collectively, hundreds of times, according to data from CrowdTangle, a social media analytics firms owned by Meta, the parent company of Facebook.

 

FEBRUARY 22, 20229:46 AM

 

Zoya Sheftalovich

BORDER QUESTIONS CONTINUE

 

Russian state Duma member Leonid Kalashnikov, the chair of a committee on post-Soviet affairs, said Moscow would recognize the independence of the entirety of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, not just the parts of the regions under separatist control. But Kalashnikov then clarified that this was just his opinion of what would happen, and that the Duma did not know what territory would be recognized.

 

The Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics currently occupy less territory than “they believe their statehood extends to,” Kalashnikov told Russian state media. “And how these borders will be restored is not provided for in [Putin’s decree]. How they will be restored is not our competence.”

 

He added that he thought “within a few days it will all be clarified and decided.”

 

FEBRUARY 22, 20229:41 AM

 

Stuart Lau

TIMMERMANS: 'ONE OF THE DARKEST DAYS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY'

 

“Today is no doubt one of the darkest days of European history,” European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans said in an opening speech at the EU Indo-Pacific forum.

 

“Russia is no longer the power to dominate, therefore chooses to disrupt. And our reaction to that behaviour is going to determine not just the security of Europe, it is going to determine global security for the years to come,” he said. “That is why I believe we need to answer this blatant act of disregard for the rule of law and for international law with increased resolve to increase our cooperation across the globe, and especially also with the Indo-Pacific.”

 

FEBRUARY 22, 20229:38 AM

 

Camille Gijs

BELGIUM: HIT RUSSIA WHERE IT HURTS

 

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo says that the EU must quickly take measures “that hit Russia where it hurts.”

 

Speaking on Belgian radio, De Croo said that Russia is currently undertaking a “very serious violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

 

“Russia is doing what it always wanted to do, take a piece of territory of Ukraine,” he added. “We will respond in an appropriate way to what is happening here. It has to be appropriate sanctions, we have to keep a cool head, but we have to show that this leads to a high cost for Russia.”

 

FEBRUARY 22, 20229:35 AM

 

Stuart Lau

CZECHS MONITOR POTENTIAL REFUGEE INFLUX

 

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský says his country and Poland are paying attention to a potential wave of refugees from Ukraine.

 

“I wouldn’t use the word ‘worried,’ but it’s a possible scenario which might happen, if there is a major conflict,” he said before attending the Indo-Pacific forum in Paris. “Czech Republic and Poland … are preparing for it; it is one of the possible scenarios.”

 

FEBRUARY 22, 20229:34 AM

 

Suzanne Lynch

IRELAND’S FM: RISK OF ‘ENORMOUS MILITARY CONFLICT’

 

Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said he expects the EU to back “targeted sanctions” today — but not to move ahead with the full package of sanctions which would be justified in the case of a fully fledged invasion.

 

Speaking on Irish national radio, Coveney said there is now a “very serious risk of an enormous military conflict.” He declined to define if Russia’s overnight move constituted an invasion.

 

“Certainly, a significant number of Russian troops are now moving into part of Ukraine — a part of Ukraine last night effectively declared independent state but nobody else recognizes that. International law does not allow for that of kind of unilateral decision by one country over another,” he said.

 

“I think what you’ll hear form the EU is a very firm message to criticize Russia for that decision. But whether they will describe that as the start of a fully fledged invasion of Ukraine? Probably not. At least this morning anyway. We’ll wait to see what happens over the next few hours,” he added.

 

FEBRUARY 22, 20229:29 AM

 

Cristina Gallardo

UK: SANCTIONS INCOMING

 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will address the U.K. parliament later today to set out sanctions against Russia, the U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid told BBC Radio 4's Today program.

 

Sanctions “will almost certainly include action against any individuals, and for that matter, any companies or businesses or any other entities that are linked to the Russian state, that have any kind of significant economic influence in Russia, but also I'm sure that they will consider what sectors in the Russian economy we can target as well,” Javid said.

 

Earlier today, Johnson chaired an emergency meeting of British senior ministers to discuss the U.K.'s response.

 

FEBRUARY 22, 20229:18 AM

 

Stuart Lau

GERMANY'S BAERBOCK HAS NOTHING TO SAY (SO FAR)

 

Arriving at the EU’s Indo-Pacific forum, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock was one notable absentee from the media corner — amid concerns about where Berlin stands on the EU’s sanctions package against Russia.

 

“The German minister won’t be making a comment,” said an official from the French foreign ministry, which organizes the forum.

 

FEBRUARY 22, 20229:16 AM

 

Stuart Lau

LITHUANIA SAYS ALL OF PUTIN'S SECURITY ADVISERS SHOULD BE SANCTIONED

 

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says advisers to Putin on Russia’s National Security Council should be sanctioned.

 

“We have a lot of evidence from yesterday’s show from Kremlin where we’ve seen all the faces, we know all the names who were behind the political decision-making process … All of those things should be open for entering into the [sanction] list,” he said.

 

But Landsbergis cautioned that it would be tricky to deal with the ultimate decision-maker. “When it comes to heads of state, usually there’s a different track, but I’m open for discussion.”

 

FEBRUARY 22, 20229:13 AM

 

Nektaria Stamouli

GREECE: RECOGNITION OF UKRAINE BREAKAWAY REGIONS VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL LAW

 

Russia’s formal recognition of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine violates international law, the Minsk agreements and the country’s territorial integrity, the Greek foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

 

“Greece supports the respect of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of all states and condemns any decision that violates fundamental principles of international law,” the ministry said.

 

Greece would coordinate with its European Union and NATO partners on the response to Russia’s decision, the ministry added.

 

The Greek government is holding an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday morning, chaired by the prime minister, on energy security.