Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that he would decide by day's end whether he would recognize two Russian-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine as independent — a move that could provide a pretext for him to invade the country, The Washington Post reports.
The regions, calling themselves the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, are home to roughly 800,000 Russians, and Putin last week alleged, without providing evidence, that Ukraine had committed "genocide" in the areas.
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