Western nations closed ranks in condemning Russia for its first formal move into Ukraine, slapping a range of sanctions on Moscow, with Germany perhaps implementing the most significant move, the suspension of the major Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline long promoted by both the Kremlin and Berlin.

U.S. President Joe Biden denounced as a “violation of law” Russia’s move to formally recognise two “people’s republics” held by separatists in eastern Ukraine for the past eight years and authorised the deployment of Russian troops on their territory.

It was not immediately clear whether Moscow’s forces had formally moved into the parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk region controlled by separatists – most analysts and Ukrainian officials have said that some Russian forces have long been informally established inside them. Several Western leaders predicted Russia would soon move to occupy more territory.

In Moscow, Putin offered a concession of sorts, saying Moscow was always ready for dialogue. That acknowledgement was made a day after the Russian parliament endorsed Putin’s decision to recognise the territories as independent entities – announced alongside a long and often angry address by the president which belittled Ukrainian statehood and denounced its leaders as nationalists and neo-Nazis.

Putin also rebuked NATO, saying it had failed to respond to his call since late last year to provide Moscow with “security guarantees”, including an undertaking that NATO would expand no further and Ukraine would never be allowed to join.

In a short statement at the White House, Biden said: “Who in the Lord’s name does Putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbours?

This is a flagrant violation of international law and demands a firm response from the international community.”

Biden outlined the punitive measures adopted by Washington: a block on the activities of two Russian banks and a bar on buying Russian sovereign debt, Further sanctions would follow on members of the Russian elite and their families.

Biden also said that moves had been coordinated with U.S. allies, particularly Germany, to suspend the registration process for Nord Stream 2.

Nord Stream 2 suspended

German Chancellor Olaf Sholz announced the suspension of a process that has been underway for several months and necessary for the vast project to go ahead in Berlin.

“That sounds technical, but it is the necessary administrative step so there can be no certification of the pipeline and without this certification, Nord Stream 2 cannot begin operating,” Scholz said in Berlin.

Nord Stream 2, which could double flows of Russian gas to Germany and beyond in Europe, was the focal point of many of Putin’s critics who suggest he could use the pipeline as a political weapon to aid high gas prices in Europe. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has in the past year repeatedly demanded that Germany and the United States take action to halt the project.

The European Union imposed the first round of sanctions, following closely the U.S. lead and targeting banks and leaving further punitive moves in reserve.

Britain announced sanctions similar to those introduced by Washington, targetting banks and several Russian business magnates or “oligarchs” – moves suggested considerable coordination among Western powers. Canada barred any business dealings with the two rebel regions and announced the dispatch of more servicemen to eastern Europe to bolster NATO.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who has rejected Moscow’s calls to keep Ukraine out of the alliance, said: “This is the most dangerous moment in European security for a generation” Stoltenberg said,

Putin, in a video message marking “Defender of the Fatherland Day” offered further talks, saying Moscow was ready to look for “diplomatic solutions”, but said the country would safeguard its interests.

“Our country is always open for direct and honest dialogue, for the search for diplomatic solutions to the most complex problems,” Putin said. “The interests of Russia, the security of our citizens, are non-negotiable for us.”

Blinken cancels meeting with Lavrov

But diplomacy appeared to be at a standstill.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the cancellation of talks he had planned with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

And the two agreements dating from 2014 and 2015 and cited by some Western leaders, particularly French President Emmanuel Macron, as the best way to achieve a settlement were also probably no longer salvageable. Recognising the separatist “republics” amounted to killing the two accords.

Western observers also noted that Putin had also endorsed the two constitutions of the breakaway territories – which call for jurisdiction over the entirety of the two Ukrainian regions – and not just the parts they hold now, amounting to 7 percent of Ukraine’s square area.

In Kyiv, the latest Russian moves raised tension, but many Ukrainians have become used to a war on their doorstep eight years after Russia annexed Crimea and fomented the rebellion in the eastern Donbas region.

Western leaders have said that the formal deployment of troops in the two regions could well lead to a far larger military engagement inside the ex-Soviet state – the separatists blame these incidents on authorities in Kyiv.

In his long, meandering address, Putin restated his long-held thesis that Ukraine had no historic basis for statehood in its own right but had been created under Soviet rule. Corruption was rife, its industry was failing and its leaders were committing “genocide” against anyone failing to share their views or express a different identity.

He said the West had duped Russia by saying NATO posed no threat to its interests and had, instead, expanded the Alliance up to his country’s borders and installed weapons systems. Ukrainian membership would increase the threat to Russia many times over and now Moscow faced the prospect of new sanctions.

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, described the recognition of the two territories as “a blatant violation of international law” And in a joint statement with the European Council president, Charles Michel, the two leaders said the European Union will “react with sanctions against those involved in this illegal act”.