According to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, at a press conference from his office in Downing Street, the decision announced on Monday by Russian President Vladimir Putin threatens the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine.

The British conservative leader added this is a bad omen amid the current escalation of tensions between Russia and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) over Ukraine, so he will immediately contact with allies to address the situation.

Western powers, and in particular the United Kingdom and the United States, accuse Russia of wanting to invade Ukrainian territory because the government of that former Soviet republic applied for NATO membership.

Moscow categorically opposes the expansion of the North Atlantic military alliance into Eastern Europe as a threat to its national security, but denies having plans to attack its neighbor.

In his speech on Monday, Putin announced that, in addition to recognizing independence, the Kremlin signed friendship, cooperation and assistance agreements with both territories located in the Donbass region.

The Russian president denounced that the Kiev government has not respected, nor will it respect, the Minsk agreements and expressed that, as on previous occasions, it is trying to organize a lightning war in the east of the country, with the use of heavy weapons and the murder of civilians.

Russia has information that Ukraine’s accession to NATO and the deployment of the Alliance facilities, is a predetermined matter, he said.

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