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Kremlin to clear up former UN-chief powers before holding talks

Kremlin will find out wheather newly-appointed Ukrainian presidential adviser Rasmussen has powers to discuss the Minsk Accords

MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. The Kremlin suggests finding out the powers and tasks of the newly-appointed Ukrainian presidential adviser Anders Fogh Rasmussen to see if he can discuss with Moscow the implementation of the Minsk Accords.

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"We do not know if he has such powers," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media. "It remains to be seen what is the purpose of holding a meeting with Mr. Rasmussen in order to discuss such themes."

Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko on May 27 signed a decree to appoint Rasmussen as his free-lance adviser. On Wednesday, Rasmussen said he was prepared to hold talks with Russia on a settlement in the southeast of Ukraine and the implementation of the Minsk Accords.

In 2001-2009 Rasmussen was Denmark’s prime minister. And from 2009 to 2014 he led NATO.

The chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s foreign affairs committee Konstantin Kosachyov sees no political or military implications in Rasmussen’s appointment as Poroshenko’s free-lance adviser. He believes that NATO’s former secretary-general will be playing the role of the Ukrainian president’s public relations officer.

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