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Kiev should discuss UN peacekeepers’ deployment with Donetsk, Lugansk — Kremlin

Moscow strongly disagrees with Kiev’s claims that Russia is a party to the conflict in Donbass
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

VLADIVOSTOK, September 7. /TASS/. A possibility of deploying UN peacekeepers in the conflict zone must be discussed by Kiev with authorities of the country’s Donetsk and Lugansk Regions and not with Moscow, which is not a party in the ongoing conflict, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"Peacekeepers can be deployed in the conflict zones only with the consent of all parties involved in the conflict," Peskov said. "Russia is not a party in this conflict in the southeast of Ukraine."

"This is why this issue must be first of all discussed between Kiev and the authorities of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic," he said. "This is the main condition for the deployment of peacekeepers and it would be unwise to neglect it."

Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko welcomed earlier in the day an opportunity of deploying a UN peacekeeping mission in the country’s southeast region of Donbass, without asking Russia as well as authorities of self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk Republics.

"Far from everybody calls Russia a party to the conflict. Kiev does. Possibly some other countries do so, too. But we firmly disagree with that," he said. "We firmly dismiss the claims Russia is a party to the conflict."

About the possibility of introducing a peacekeeping contingent to the area, Peskov said the international rules were based on the mandatory consent of all parties.

"Peacekeepers are not placed anywhere without the conflicting parties’ prior consent. There have been no such precedents and it is impossible to imagine it might happen otherwise," he said.