MOSCOW: Russian lawmakers on Tuesday authorized President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside the country, a move that could presage a broader attack on Ukraine after the US said an invasion was already underway there.
Members of the upper house, the Federation Council, voted unanimously to allow Putin to use military force outside Russia effectively formalising a Russian military deployment to the rebel regions.
Several European leaders said earlier in the day that Russian troops have moved into rebel-held areas in eastern Ukraine after Putin recognised their independence. However, it was unclear how large the movements were.
Ukraine and its Western allies have long said Russian troops were fighting in the region, allegations that Moscow always denied.
A Reuters witness saw tanks and other military hardware moving through the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk. About five tanks were seen in a column on the edge of Donetsk and two more in another part of town, a Reuters reporter said.
Shortly after, Putin laid out three conditions to end the crisis that has threatened to plunge Europe back into war, raising the specter of massive casualties, energy shortages across the continent and economic chaos around the globe.
Putin said the crisis could be resolved if Kyiv recognizes Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, renounces its bid to join NATO and partially demilitarizes.
The West has decried the annexation of Crimea as a violation of international law and has previously flatly rejected permanently barring Ukraine from NATO.
Asked whether he has sent any Russian troops into Ukraine and how far they could go, Putin responded: “I haven’t said that the troops will go there right now.” He added coyly that “it’s impossible to forecast a specific pattern of action –- it will depend on a concrete situation as it takes shape on the ground.”
White House terms Russian troop deployments ‘invasion’
The White House on Tuesday began referring to Russian troop deployments in eastern Ukraine as an invasion after initially hesitating to use the term — a red line that President Joe Biden has said would result in the US levying severe sanctions against Moscow.
“We think this is, yes, the beginning of an invasion, Russia’s latest invasion into Ukraine,” Jon Finer, principal deputy national security adviser, said in an interview. “An invasion is an invasion and that is what is underway.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also alluded to the Russian action as being an invasion in a Twitter post commenting on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s decision to halt the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in response to Russia’s actions.
“The US president made clear that if Russia invaded Ukraine, we would act with Germany to ensure Nord Stream 2 does not move forward,” Psaki said.
Western leaders have long warned Moscow would look for cover to invade and just such a pretext seemed to come on Monday, when Putin recognised as independent two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, where government troops have fought Russia-backed rebels in a conflict that has killed over 14,000 people.
