File Photo: Pro-Russian separatists from the Chechen Death battalion walk during a training exercise in the territory controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People s Republic, eastern Ukraine. Reuters
"The EU strongly condemns the Russian State Duma's decision to submit a call to President Putin to recognise the non-government controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine as independent entities," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted.
"This recognition would be a clear violation of the Minsk agreements," he said.
Those agreements are contained in Western-backed protocols signed in 2014 and 2015 that aimed to end the conflict in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists rule two self-styled "republics" with no international recognition.
Russia's parliament earlier Tuesday urged Putin to recognize those regions as independent, arguing that it was Kyiv that was not following the Minsk agreements.
Separately, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg also warned against any moves to recognize the two breakaway territories.
"If that happens, that will be a blatant violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty once again," Stoltenberg told journalists.
"There is no doubt that Donetsk and Luhansk is part of Ukraine within internationally recognized borders. So, such recognition will be a violation of international law."
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