President Vladimir Putin ordered his defense ministry to despatch Russian peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine's two breakaway regions, according to a decree published early on Tuesday after he said Moscow would recognize their independence.

Putin earlier signed decrees to recognize the two breakaway regions -- the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and the Lugansk People's Republic -- as independent statelets.

This action defied Western warnings that such a step would be illegal and kill off long-running peace negotiations. The EU and U.S. plan to impose stiff trade and investment restrictions involving the breakaway regions, separate from the raft of sanctions likely to be put in place should Moscow choose to fully invade Ukraine.