In the wake of Russia’s recognition of the self-proclaimed republics occupying Eastern Ukraine, freshly emboldened separatist leaders have threatened to take back territory lost to Ukrainian forces in 2014—and the Kremlin appears to be on board. The move threatens to trigger a full-fledged confrontation between Ukrainian troops and separatist forces now backed up officially by the Russian military. Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, confirmed early Tuesday that Moscow’s recognition of the republics applies to those borders “in which they proclaimed themselves,” apparently referring to the territories they claimed control of back at the time of their establishment in 2014. Pressed to clarify if this is what he meant, Peskov refused to elaborate further. His comments came as leaders of the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic called dibs on the Luhansk region in its entirety, which includes areas currently controlled by Ukrainian authorities. Dmitry Khoroshilov, the vice speaker of the LNR parliament, described all of Luhansk as “our territory, occupied by Ukrainian forces. I think that we must call on Ukraine to withdraw forces voluntarily,” RIA Novosti reported. Otherwise, he said, separatist leaders would move to “restore our territorial integrity.” Denis Pushilin, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, also appeared on Russian state TV to say the borders spelled out in the “constitution” of the republics apply to the entire regions.
