MOSCOW, April 26./TASS/. Russia had the right to recognize the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and render military assistance, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday.

Putin mentioned the decision of the UN International Court of Justice on Kosovo, that in exercising the right to self-determination, the territory of a state is not obliged to apply for permission to declare its sovereignty to the country’s central authorities. He drew attention to the support for this decision by the UN court. "I personally read all commentaries - from legal, administrative, political agencies of the US, European countries. Everybody supported this," Putin stressed.

In a similar fashion, the republics of Donbass had the same right to declare their sovereignty, "since the precedent was set". "Right? Do you agree with this?" Putin asked Guterres, who answered that the UN did not recognize Kosovo. "But the court did recognize it," Putin parried. "If this precedent was set, the republics of Donbass could do the same," he went on to say, while Russia got the right to recognize them as independent states.

"Very many countries of the world did this, including our opponents in the West, in respect of Kosovo. <…>. That’s a fact that very many states of the West recognized it as an independent state. We did the same in respect of the republics of Donbass," he went on to say. "After we did this, they asked us to provide military assistance in respect of the state that was conducting military operations against them. And we had the right to do this, in full compliance with Article 51 of Chapter VII of the UN Charter," Putin stressed.