Russian Duma takes its time over call for east Ukraine 'independence'

FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an extraordinary meeting of the Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on the situation in Kazakhstan after violent protests, via a video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia January 10, 2022. Sputnik/Aleksey Nikolskyi/Kremlin via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A proposal to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to recognise two breakaway east Ukraine regions as independent will not be ready for discussion by the relevant parliamentary committee until next week, the committee's head told Reuters on Monday.

The proposal, initiated by the Communist faction in the Duma, is significant because - if parliament approved it and Putin agreed - it would mark a hardening of Russia's stance in the Ukraine crisis and further raise tensions with the West.