Brussels: The European Union is “ready to react” if Russian President Vladimir Putin recognizes Ukraine’s separatist territories as independent, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday. “We call upon President Putin to respect international law and the Minsk agreements and expect him not to recognize the independence of Lugansk and Donetsk oblasts,” Borrell said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. “We are ready to react with a strong, united front in case he should decide to do so.”