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Future of peacekeeping mission to Donbass depends on stance of Kiev, Washington — Kremlin

The Kremlin spokesman called against "eroding the essence of the Russian proposal" on a peacekeeping mission

MOSCOW, September 18. /TASS/. Situation around the idea of deploying peacekeepers to Donbass depends on whether Kiev and Washington take a constructive stance, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

"Certainly, now everything will depend on whether Kiev and the United States have a constructive stance," Peskov said commenting on the prospects of the UN’s considering of a proposal on deploying peacekeepers to Donbass.

The Kremlin spokesman called against "eroding the essence of the Russian proposal" on a peacekeeping mission that is aimed at ensuring security of staff members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) working in the conflict zone.

Peskov recalled that Moscow has been pursuing the line towards contributing to searching for a solution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine and is one of the countries-guarantors of the Minsk peace deal. These agreements are not implemented due to "Kiev’s unpreparedness and unwillingness to implement those unambiguous points signed by all the respective sides in documents," he noted.

On September 5, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would submit a resolution to the UN Security Council on the deployment of UN peacekeepers along the demarcation line in Donbass to ensure security of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission.

He stressed however that deployment of UN peacekeepers could only be possible after weapons withdrawal from the area and upon agreement with the self-proclaimed Donbass republics. The president said the peacekeepers could be deployed not only along the contact line.