MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. Russia has protected the Donbass people's republics in accordance with the UN Charter, President Vladimir Putin said, adding that the country recognized them, seeing the futility in the issue of Ukraine's implementation of the Minsk agreements.

"The complete refusal of today's Ukrainian authorities to implement the Minsk agreements was an actual trigger," Putin told journalist Pavel Zarubin. "And the incessant attacks with numerous human casualties on the republics of Donbass republics that we had not recognized for eight years."

The president reiterated that the DPR and LPR asked Moscow to recognize them, "seeing the futility of resolving the issue within the framework of the Minsk agreements." "We recognized them, then concluding a treaty with them," the president added. "We carried out our obligations in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations," he said.