You're reading: Russia to recognize passports issued by Kremlin-backed authorities in Donbas

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Feb. 18 recognizing passports issued by the pseudo-authorities in control of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in Ukraine.

According to the document, the text of which was posted on the Russian president’s website, the decree concerns “documents and registration plates of vehicles issued to citizens of Ukraine and people without citizenship in separate districts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine.”

The decree does not appear to imply Russia’s recognition of the self-declared “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic,” parts of the two easternmost Ukrainian oblasts where Kremlin-backed fighters have seized control of the local authorities.

News of the signing of the decree came on the same day that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov addressed the Munich Security Conference in Germany, where he declared that the post-Cold War liberal world order was over.

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A screenshot of the Russian president’s website showing the text if a decree signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 18. The decree Recognizes the passports issued by psuedo authorities in parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts that are not under control of the Ukrainian government.

He also accused the Western media of failing to cover “attrocities” carried out by Ukrainian forces in the Donbas.

The signing of the decree also comes a week after the administration of U.S. Predident Donald Trump said it “expects Russia to return Crimea to Ukraine.”

Russian forces, in unmarked uniforms, seized control of Crimea in late February 2014, with the Kremlin falsely claiming the soldiers were local militias. The Kremlin then organized a sham referendum in early March 2014 and annexed the Ukrainian territory, in which a large Russian naval base is located.

Russia has never recognized the so-called republics, which were set up by Russian-backed forces in the Donbas following the the EuroMaidan Revolution and Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in early 2014. The revolution  ousted Ukraine’s pro-Russian former president, Viktor Yanukovych.

Russia denies to this day being involved in igniting the war in Ukraine, but overwhelming evidence has since emerged that Kremlin officials were involved in encouraging anti-government protests in eastern and southern Ukraine, as well as setting up the “republics,” and funding and supporting them.

Russia has also sent its regular troops into Ukraine on occasion to aid its proxy forces, notably during the battle of Ilovaisk in 2014 and the battle of Debaltsevo in 2015. Several serving Russian soldiers have been captured by Ukrainian forces during fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Earlier in the war, Russian artillery units also fired across the border from Russia into Ukraine in attacks on Ukrainian armed forces, the open-source intelligence analysis group Bellingcat has shown in a research report.