Russian President Vladimir Putin considers the recognition of the "people's republics" in eastern Ukraine as "independent states" to be incompatible with the Minsk agreements.

This was emphasized by Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Wednesday.

The Duma, Russia's lower house, appealed to Putin on Tuesday during his talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the Kremlin to recognize the "people's republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Scholz had described this possibility at Putin's side as a "political catastrophe".

Putin said the Donbass problem should be solved “primarily” through the Minsk agreements.

Frederick Smith

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

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Putin took the Duma appeal as an opportunity to call on the United States, Germany and France to "influence the leadership in Kiev accordingly".

According to the newspaper Kommersant - which referred to a "roadmap" presented by the "People's Republics" - the Russian idea of ​​how "Minsk" should be implemented boils down to a "state within a state" on the territory of Ukraine “ arises, which remains permanently out of Kiev’s control and blocks the country’s path to NATO.

Russian observers see the Duma's appeal to Putin as a lever to put more pressure on the West and Kiev.

Peskov said the president "accepted the request for consideration."

Russian state television showed images of military convoys on Wednesday, which were supposed to show units returning to their base locations after completing maneuvers.

But Putin's spokesman confirmed the scenario outlined by the Russian power and media apparatus of a Ukrainian military operation against the "People's Republics".

The "danger" of such an operation "remains high," Peskow said.

Putin has described the threat to Russians in the Donbass as a "red line" and repeated Tuesday that a "genocide" was taking place there.

On Wednesday, Russia commented with malice that the Russian invasion of Ukraine that some had feared did not take place that day.

They slept peacefully, said Peskow, but assume that the peak of "Western hysteria" has not yet been reached.

He also said it had nothing to do with recent cyber attacks on Ukrainian banks and ministries.