A peaceful protest in front of the Embassy of Russia in Sofia is taking place on Tuesday evening in connection with the actions of the Russian Federation, BGNES reports.

Russia’s Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) and the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) have unanimously ratified the treaties of cooperation with the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine. Thus, both chambers of the Russian parliament supported the decision of President Vladimir Putin to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed republics, the correspondent of the BNR in Moscow Angel Grigorov reported. The agreements between Moscow and Donetsk and Luhansk provide for co-operation in foreign policy and the protection of sovereignty and territorial integrity through mutual assistance, including military assistance. Later, Russia’s upper house in Parliament (the Federation Council) approved a request from Putin to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation outside its borders in connection with the situation in Donbas.

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenski said that Kyiv was considering severing diplomatic relations with Russia in response to its recognition of two separatist regions in Ukraine.  

“Presidents of Bucharest Nine's @ NATO countries-Poland, Romania, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic will meet on Friday at an extraordinary summit in Warsaw”, Jakob Kumoch, Secretary of State in the Chancellory of the President of Poland, wrote on Twitter.

“German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has issued an order to halt the process of certifying the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Well. Welcome to the brave new world where Europeans are very soon going to pay €2.000 for 1.000 cubic meters of natural gas!”, Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Twitter. 

The United Kingdom has approved a package of sanctions against Russian banks and persons, whose assets in the UK will be frozen. Currently, the EU Foreign Ministers are discussing in Paris possible sanctions against Russia. NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Germany’s decision to put the certification of Nord Stream 2 on hold, the correspondent of the BNR in Brussels Angelina Piskova reported.

Romania’s Minister of Defense Vasile Dincu said that his country was ready to accept more than 500,000 refugees in case of a military conflict in Ukraine, Agerpres reported, quoted by BTA. Minister Dincu said that Romania was not expecting huge flows of Ukrainian refugees.