MOSCOW: The Russian Federation Council, or upper house of parliament, has accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin's request to use military forces in foreign countries.

"Senators overwhelmingly approved the passage of the relevant Resolution," the Federation Council stated in a statement released on Tuesday.

According to the Kremlin, Putin proposed that the Federation Council pass a resolution authorising the use of the Russian Federation's armed forces overseas on the basis of generally accepted international law principles and standards on Tuesday. 

The State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, ratified the treaties of friendship, collaboration, and mutual assistance with "the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR)" and "the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR)" during a plenary session earlier on Tuesday, according to reports.

The treaties were signed on Monday by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the LPR and DPR. On Monday, he also signed two decrees recognising the LPR and the DPR as sovereign and independent states. Kiev has been pressing the international community to undertake emergency talks over Russia's decision on the status of the Donetsk and Lugansk areas in eastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

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