Putin has 14 days to sign the bill into law.<\/p>\n
Moscow has partly justified its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the need to protect Russian-speaking Ukrainians, whom it considers compatriots. The Kremlin claimed Kyiv had been abusing their rights for years, and is still demanding the reinstatement of the Russian language and the Russian church in Ukraine at the state level as a part of any peace agreement.<\/p>\n
Kyiv sees the new legislation as normalizing Russian expansionism.<\/p>\n
“This decision can be described in two words: aggressive lawlessness,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi told POLITICO. “By granting himself the unlimited right to use Russian occupation forces outside the country under the pretext of supposedly protecting Russian citizens, Putin is effectively admitting that aggression has become the norm of Russian state policy.”<\/p>\n
This year, various European intelligence agencies have labeled<\/a> Russia as a direct threat to NATO and the West as well.<\/p>\n EU defense officials and lawmakers fear the Kremlin could view the next year or two as the ideal time to test the West’s commitment to the military alliance. That window will remain open as long as Donald Trump is in the White House and Europe fails to reinforce its military capacity, according to three EU politicians with direct knowledge of the discussions, interviewed by POLITICO<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n