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https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/kremlin-says-no-concrete-plans-summit-with-biden-over-ukraine-2022-02-21/
MOSCOW, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will sign a decree recognising two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent entities shortly, the Kremlin said, upping the ante in a crisis the West fears could unleash a war.
Putin announced his decision in phone calls to the leaders of Germany and France, who voiced disappointment, the Kremlin said in a readout of the calls.
The European Union warned of sanctions from the 27-nation bloc should Moscow annex or recognise the breakaway regions in the east of Ukraine and largely controlled by Russia-backed separatists.
"If there is annexation, there will be sanctions, and if there is recognition, I will put the sanctions on the table and the ministers will decide," the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said after a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers.
Recognition of the rebel-held areas could provide a pretext for Russian troops to cross the border into those areas.
It will also narrow the diplomatic options to avoid war, since it is an explicit rejection of a seven-year-old ceasefire mediated by France and Germany, touted as the framework for future negotiations on the wider crisis.
Washington says Russia has massed a force numbering 169,000-190,000 troops in the region, including the rebels in the breakaway regions, and could invade within days.
Russia denies any plan to attack its neighbour but has threatened unspecified "military-technical" action unless it receives sweeping security guarantees, including a promise that Ukraine will never join NATO.
MOSCOW, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will sign a decree recognising two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent entities shortly, the Kremlin said, upping the ante in a crisis the West fears could unleash a war.
Putin announced his decision in phone calls to the leaders of Germany and France, who voiced disappointment, the Kremlin said in a readout of the calls.
The European Union warned of sanctions from the 27-nation bloc should Moscow annex or recognise the breakaway regions in the east of Ukraine and largely controlled by Russia-backed separatists.
"If there is annexation, there will be sanctions, and if there is recognition, I will put the sanctions on the table and the ministers will decide," the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said after a meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers.
Recognition of the rebel-held areas could provide a pretext for Russian troops to cross the border into those areas.
It will also narrow the diplomatic options to avoid war, since it is an explicit rejection of a seven-year-old ceasefire mediated by France and Germany, touted as the framework for future negotiations on the wider crisis.
Washington says Russia has massed a force numbering 169,000-190,000 troops in the region, including the rebels in the breakaway regions, and could invade within days.
Russia denies any plan to attack its neighbour but has threatened unspecified "military-technical" action unless it receives sweeping security guarantees, including a promise that Ukraine will never join NATO.
