Russian parliament to discuss draft bills on Donbass recognition

FILE PHOTO: Russian parliamentarians attend a session of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in Moscow, Russia May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's parliament will vote on Tuesday to decide whether to ask President Vladimir Putin to recognise two Russian-backed breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent, the speaker of the Duma lower house said.

Vyacheslav Volodin said lawmakers would consider two alternative resolutions on recognition of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, in the area known as the Donbass, where separatist forces have been fighting the Ukrainian army since 2014.