US condemns Russian bid to recognize Ukraine separatist provinces: Antony Blinken

Such a transfer would “represent a gross violation of worldwide regulation,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned in an announcement.

Russia’s parliament on Tuesday voted to induce President Vladimir Putin to acknowledge the 2 breakaway areas in japanese Ukraine as “sovereign and impartial states” amid hovering pressure with the West over Moscow’s troop build-up.

“Kremlin approval of this enchantment would quantity to the Russian authorities’s wholesale rejection of its commitments beneath the Minsk agreements,” Blinken mentioned, referring to a landmark 2014 deal meant to settle the Ukraine battle.

He added that such a choice would undermine Moscow’s “acknowledged dedication to proceed to have interaction in diplomacy to attain a peaceable decision of this disaster, and necessitate a swift and agency response from america in full coordination with our allies and companions.”