Putin weighs his next move after recognizing Ukraine rebels

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the stakes in the Ukraine standoff by recognizing the independence of rebel regions in the country’s east. A key question now is whether he will stop at that or try to move deeper into Ukraine. Putin signaled his readiness to up the ante in an hourlong address to the nation that cast Ukraine as an artificial construct, a U.S. “puppet” that has “robbed” Russia of historical lands lost in the Soviet collapse. But at the same time, the Russian leader appeared to keep the door open for diplomacy if the West agrees to Moscow’s security demands.