Vladimir Putin openly brandishes the threat of a major war – Le Monde

After his stunt – the recognition of the separatist republics of Donbass and the burial of the diplomatic process with Ukraine – was the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, going to release the pressure and temporize? Even seize the hand extended by the Europeans, whose first sanctions, for the time being, seem limited?

The answer came from a short improvised press conference on Tuesday, February 22, from which it emerged that the head of the Kremlin chose on the contrary to escalate, with, in support, the very explicit threat of a war of scale.

Vladimir Putin first clarified a crucial point: the borders within which Moscow recognizes the two separatist entities. According to him, these borders are those inscribed in the “Constitutions” of the two self-proclaimed republics, that is to say the entirety of the administrative regions (oblast) of Donetsk and Luhansk, i.e. a territory three times larger than that which they currently hold. Occupying these territories and expanding the front by several hundred kilometers would involve a massive offensive.

A maximalist option, even as the Russian Foreign Ministry or the Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, evoked borders “existing” of the two republics. Mr. Putin assures, however, that the exact route will have to be the subject of “negotiations” between Kiev and the separatists, now openly supported by the Russian army, which deployed on their soil on Tuesday. Moscow has also signed agreements with Donetsk and Luhansk “friendship and support”while the Federation Council voted on Tuesday to allow the deployment of the army ” abroad “.

New queries

Clearly, after losing a lever of pressure on the Ukrainian side (the Minsk agreements, dead and buried, by the Russian president’s own admission), Vladimir Putin creates a new one: the promise of negotiations in order to avoid war. The offer is certainly not worded that way, but it seems to be addressed to the West as well.

Another equally blatant escalation, the Russian president demanded that Ukraine give up its ambition to join NATO on its own, but also accept a status of neutrality and be demilitarized – new requests and unacceptable prospects for Kyiv.

Returning to the tone adopted the day before during his long address to the Nation, Vladimir Putin wondered: “Why should the good always stand unarmed? I believe that good should be able to defend itself. It is on this basis that we are going to act. » On Tuesday evening, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that it would evacuate, “in the very near future”its diplomatic staff working in Ukraine.