Putin says he will make a decision today on Donbas. Security meeting ends

Throughout the security meeting with Putin, he was repeatedly urged by nearly all of his advisors and cabinets to recognize Donbas.

The security cabinet argued that Ukraine had no interest in implementing the Minsk accord.

It very much sounds like Putin has made up his mind. He likely wants to make the announcement live on Russian TV in a national address. Based on what we heard today it’s a 99% likelihood he recognizes Luhansk and Donetsk.

The other tell is that the meeting was pre-recorded. The defense minister’s watch showed it was three hours earlier. So the release of this meeting was likely part of setting the stage for the announcement.

The big question is: What happens now? Recognizing these breakaway republics as independent isn’t a big surprise but it doesn’t mean war with Ukraine and certainly doesn’t mean attacking and surrounding Kiev. So the question really is: How does Ukraine respond?

 
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Crude oil is the most popular tradable instrument in the energy sector, offering exposure to global market conditions, geopolitical risk, and economics. The instrument is strategically relied upon and situated in the global economy. Crude oil has proven to be a unique option for traders given volatility and the efficacy of both swing trading and longer-term strategies. Despite its popularity, crude oil is a very complex investing instrument, given the litany of fluctuations in oil prices, risk, and impact of politics stemming from OPEC. Short for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC operates as an intergovernmental organization of 13 countries, helping set and dictate the global oil market.How to Trade Crude Oil Crude oil is most commonly traded as an exchange-traded fund (ETF) or through other instruments with exposure to it. This includes energy stocks, the USD/CAD, and other investing options. Crude oil itself is traded across a duality of markets, including the West Texas Intermediate Crude (WTI) and Brent crude. Brent is the more relied upon index in recent years, while WTI is more heavily traded across futures trading at the time of writing. Other than geopolitical events or decisions by OPEC, crude oil can move due to a variety of different ways.  The most basic is through simple supply and demand, which is affected by global output. Increased industrial output, economic prosperity, and other factors all play a role in crude prices. By extension, recessions, lockdowns, or other stifling factors can also influence crude prices. For example, an oversupply or mitigated demand due to the aforementioned factors would result in lower crude prices. This is due to traders selling crude oil futures or other instruments.  Should demand rise or production plateau, traders will bid increasingly on crude, whereby driving prices up.
Read this Term is up $1.05 to $92.12 and Russian markets are down double digits.