On 24 February 2022, at 5:30 a.m. Moscow Time, state television channels broadcast a new address by Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Moreover, in recent days the leadership of NATO has been openly talking about the need to speed up, and force the advancement of the alliance's infrastructure to the borders of Russia.
In this regard, in accordance with Article 51 of Part 7 of the UN Charter, with the sanction of the Federation Council of Russia and in pursuance of the treaties of friendship and mutual assistance ratified by the Federal Assembly on 22 February of this year with the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic, I have decided to conduct a special military operation.
[5][4]Days earlier, on 21 February, Russia officially recognised the DPR and the LPR as independent states,[6][7] which were agreements with the DNR and LNR referred to by Putin.
He said the purpose of the "operation" was to "protect the people" in the predominantly Russian-speaking region of Donbas who, according to Putin, "for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime".
"[10][11] Addressing the citizens of Ukraine, he linked Russia's actions with self-defense against the threats created for it and "an even greater disaster than the one that is happening today", saying: "No matter how hard it is, I ask you to understand this and call for interaction in order to turn this tragic page and move forward together.
At the same time, we hear that recently in the West there is talk that the documents signed by the Soviet totalitarian regime, securing the outcome of World War II, should no longer be upheld.
[14][15] At the meeting itself, Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's representative to the UN, stated: "We are not carrying out aggression against the Ukrainian people, but against the group that seized power in Kyiv.
[23] NATO says it is not at war with Russia; its official policy is that it does not seek confrontation, but rather supports Ukraine in "its right to self-defense, as enshrined in the UN Charter".
[28] Several analysts and officials had warned against letting eastern European countries join NATO, because of the risk that Russia would see it as a threat.
[30] Peter Dickinson of the Atlantic Council suggested the real reason Putin opposes NATO is because it "prevents him from bullying Russia's neighbors".
[32] Swiss researcher of international law Nico Krisch says that Article 51 is the right to self-defense in exceptional cases, mainly when an attack on a country has already begun or is about to begin.
For other situations, there is the UN Security Council and other conflict resolution mechanisms; the blurred NATO threat that Putin sees as 1941 cannot justify this military action.
Krisch recalled that in the early 2000s, when the United States tried to introduce the concept of "preventive self-defense" as justification for the use of military force in Iraq, most countries opposed such an interpretation, and Russia was among them.
Russian propaganda has framed it as a continuation of the Soviet Union's "Great Patriotic War" against Nazi Germany, "even as Russia supports extreme-right groups across Europe".
[33] Ulrich B. Schmid, professor of Russian culture and society at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, called Putin's allegation "despicable", and noted that Russia itself has many prominent far-right groups.
[61][62] Josep Borrell, the EU representative for foreign affairs and security policy,[63] as well as Brookings Institution senior fellow Michael E. O'Hanlon and Associated Press vice president John Daniszewski, assessed Putin's words about a possible response to intervention in the conflict as a threat to use nuclear weapons.
[64] On 27 February, Putin ordered the Minister of Defense to put the strategic deterrence forces into a special mode of combat duty.
[65] NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg issued a statement condemning "Russia's reckless and unprovoked attack on Ukraine, which puts at risk countless civilian lives.
Once again, despite our repeated warnings and tireless efforts to engage in diplomacy, Russia has chosen the path of aggression against a sovereign and independent country.
[67] In the statement, Biden said: "President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering."