Political recognition primarily mean recognizing a government as legitimate, which means having diplomatic relations with this government, concluding economic and military treaties, etc. On the other hand, laying claims to terrotories is not up to Russia, but to the governments of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics. Russia may agree or disagree with these claims, as well as have its word, if these claims are ever discussed in the UN.

Arab-Israeli conflict is a good example where the recognition of the State of Israel by many countries does not automatically imply recognition of this state's sovereignity over east Jerisalem, Golan Heights or those parts of the West Bank that are considered Israeli territory under the Israeli law.

Political recognition primarily means recognizing a government as legitimate, which means having diplomatic relations with this government, concluding economic and military treaties, etc. On the other hand, laying claims to territories is not up to Russia, but to the governments of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics. Russia may agree or disagree with these claims, as well as have its word, if these claims are ever discussed in the UN.

The Arab-Israeli conflict is a good example where the recognition of the State of Israel by many countries does not automatically imply recognition of this state's sovereignty over east Jerusalem, the Golan Heights or those parts of the West Bank that are considered Israeli territory under Israeli law.