Those shots went viral fast. As Russia decided on Monday, February 21 to recognize the independence of the pro-Russian provinces of eastern Ukraine, a video showing President Vladimir Putin engaging in an official discussion with his intelligence chief caused a great deal of controversy on social media.

In these pictures, we see the Russian president asking the head of intelligence if he supported a federal decision that would recognize the independence of the separatist regions – the most important in the conflict. The latter, with so much instability in sight, begins to stumble as if he had lost all his means in the face of the head of state’s request.

He gives the impression that he has recovered after several reminders from Vladimir Putin, and finally announced that he supports the “proposal for the annexation of Donetsk and Lukansk into the Russian Federation”. Although the international community rightly fears that this is the purpose of this Russian operation in Ukraine, there is unrest in the room because it is not on the agenda.

Vladimir Putin smiled and said, “Yes, but that’s not what we’re talking about …”