By Agnes Szucs
BRUSSELS (AA) - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Monday condemned the recognition of Ukraine’s separatist regions of Luhansk and Donetsk by Russia, and warned that the Russian decision jeopardizes the peaceful resolution to the conflict.
“I condemn Russia’s decision to extend recognition to the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ and ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.
He warned that the recognition “erodes efforts towards a resolution of the conflict, and violates the Minsk Agreements, to which Russia is a party”, referring to the treaty signed in 2014 to establish peace in eastern Ukraine.
“Moscow continues to fuel the conflict in eastern Ukraine by providing financial and military support to the separatists,” Stoltenberg asserted, noting that Russia “is also trying to stage a pretext to invade Ukraine once again.
He reaffirmed NATO’s support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine “within its internationally recognized borders” and stressed that Luhansk and Donetsk are part of the country.
He also repeated his call for Russia to “choose the path of diplomacy.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially recognized Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions as independent states and signed the relevant agreements with the separatist leaders in the Kremlin.
Tensions have recently risen dramatically in eastern Ukraine, with reports of a growing number of cease-fire violations, multiple shelling incidents, and evacuation of civilians from the pro-Russian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Western countries have accused Russia of amassing more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine, prompting fears that it could be planning a military offensive against its ex-Soviet neighbor.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any plan to invade Ukraine and instead accused Western countries of undermining Russia's security through NATO's expansion toward its borders.