MOSCOW, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Russian lawmakers called on parliament on Wednesday to appeal to President Vladimir Putin to recognise two pro-Russian breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent states, amid Western suspicions that Moscow may be planning to invade its neighbour.
A Russian troop build-up https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/blinken-says-russian-attack-ukraine-could-come-very-short-notice-2022-01-19 near Ukraine has stirred worries among Western countries that a war could break out between the former Soviet neighbours, whose ties have been fraught since the annexation of Crimea by Moscow and the start of a Russia-backed insurgency in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
In a draft parliamentary resolution, 11 lawmakers -- including Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov -- said that Russia needed to officially recognise the two regions as independent to safeguard their residents from external threats.
The draft resolution said: "The Russian State Duma turns to you, Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin), with a request to consider the recognition by the Russian Federation of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic as self-sufficient, sovereign and independent states."
The Ukrainian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. There was no immediate reaction from the State Duma and the Kremlin.
Russia already allows residents of the rebel-controlled regions to apply for Russian citizenship under an expedited procedure. Both regions have also adopted the Russian rouble as their official currency and schools there follow the Russian curriculum.
Putin last year also ordered the government to lift curbs on exports and imports of goods between Russia and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Russian authorities said the move was designed to compensate for the economic blockage between those regions and the rest of Ukraine.
(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Dmitry Antonov in Moscow and Natalia Zinets in Kyiv; Editing by William Maclean)
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