Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the “Luhansk People’s Republic” Monday in a ceremony carried on state television, writes CNN.

Earlier, in the day, the heads of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian republics requested the Kremlin leader recognize their independence and sovereignty.

Members of Putin’s Security Council supported the initiative in a meeting the same day.

Russian President delivered lengthy remarks on Soviet history and the formation of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic under Communist rule in the 20th Century.

Here are a few quotes from the remarks:

„Let’s start with the fact that modern Ukraine was entirely created by Russia, more precisely, by the Bolshevik, communist Russia. This process began almost immediately after the 1917 revolution“.
„Then, on the eve and after the Second World War, Stalin already annexed to the USSR and transferred to Ukraine some lands that previously belonged to Poland, Romania and Hungary“.
“And in 1954, for some reason, Khrushchev took Crimea from Russia and gave it to Ukraine. Actually, this is how the territory of Soviet Ukraine was formed“.