Putin’s intentions

Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognise the eastern Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics marks a significant heightening of tensions between Moscow and the West. The Russian leader had earlier staged an absurd propaganda stunt by chairing a televised meeting of his security council to endorse this demarche. It has removed all remaining doubt as to his intentions to further carve up Ukraine in breach of international law.

The announcement has scuppered the latest flurry of diplomatic efforts spearheaded by Emmanuel Macron, who has failed to engineer the resolution to the crisis that he confidently predicted just a week or so ago. France currently holds the rotating EU presidency offering Mr Macron the chance to play the roles of statesman and peace-maker. He has been trying to bring the Russian leader together with US president Joe Biden in a last-ditch effort to prevent an invasion.

But while Mr Biden had agreed in principle to a summit, the latest development has surely killed off any hopes of a rapprochement.

While a diplomatic solution is preferable to war, it cannot be at any price, as Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, told MPS. The West must not support the dismantling of Ukraine in order to persuade Mr Putin to remove his troops.

The provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk have been at the centre of a bloody stand-off between the two countries since 2014 that has already cost 10,000 lives. If Mr Putin can split them from Ukraine, as he did Crimea, he will consider his acts of intimidation and aggression to have been a success. But he will come back for more, with the Baltic states next on his list.