00:00What we heard today from President Putin was basically a recitation of grievances that he and other Russians have had for a long time.
00:16And he did it in an extended format before finally cutting to the chase of what he was announcing at the very end,
00:24which is that Russia will recognize the independence of these two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk, which are collectively known as Donbass.
00:41It's not a good step, obviously, because you saw immediate reaction from the European Union and from the Biden administration that this is a violation of international law.
00:54You are essentially recognizing the independence of territories that are in a sovereign nation, Ukraine.
01:02And, you know, and you can't do that without consequences.
01:08And so the EU and the Biden administration have announced that they will impose sanctions on people who are involved in this decision.
01:17Now, this is short of and separate the larger sanctions package that they have threatened Putin and Russia with if they go ahead with an actual invasion of Ukraine.
01:34The meeting that is supposed to happen on Thursday between Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is at this moment still planned to happen.
01:50And during that meeting, a possible summit between President Biden and President Putin will be discussed.
01:57So those are not off the table, at least not yet.
02:02What would trigger the the end of that diplomatic process would be an invasion.
02:09And that is certainly something that is possible, particularly after President Putin signed with the leaders of these two separatist areas.
02:19Areas aid agreements, agreements that will that would allow Russia to send troops in to Ukrainian territory to assist them.
02:35And if that happens, then the diplomacy is done.
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