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Kiev plans for peacekeepers in Donbas defy Minsk agreements — DPR envoy

A statement by the Ukrainian president’s administration about a possible deployment of UN peacekeepers in Donbas shows Kiev’s unwillingness to comply with the Minsk agreements, Denis Pushilin said
Representative of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) at the Contact Group, Denis Pushilin Mikhail Sokolov/TASS
Representative of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) at the Contact Group, Denis Pushilin
© Mikhail Sokolov/TASS

MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. A statement by the Ukrainian president’s administration about a possible deployment of UN peacekeepers in the troubled Donbas shows Kiev’s unwillingness to comply with the Minsk agreements, a representative of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) at the Contact Group, said on Tuesday.

President Pyotr Poroshenko "could not have been unaware that point 10 of the Package of Measures envisages the withdrawal of all without exception foreign armed units from Donbass," Denis Pushilin said.

"Unfortunately, Ukraine has stopped being guarantor of the implementation of Minsk-2 (Minsk agreements of February 12, 2015), testifying to which are active attempts of Kiev to force through the United Nations an idea of the deployment of foreign peacekeepers to Donbass," the Donetsk News Agency quoted Denis Pushilin as saying.

"Of all international organizations, the Package of Measures spells out only the role of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, which is tasked with motoring, so Poroshenko’s initiative practically discredits the mission of observers," Pushilin added.

"This once again proves that Ukraine is trying in every way to disrupt the implementation of the Minsk agreements," he added.

With that in view, the authorities of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic once again urge the leaders of Germany and France, who along with Russian President Vladimir Putin acted as guarantors of the implementation of the Package of Measures, to act against Kiev’s provocative moves.

"Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande stated and guaranteed that Ukraine would comply with Minsk-2," he said. "That is why they must now grab Poroshenko by the sleeve to see that he won’t wreck the Minsk agreements," Pushilin said.

Overnight to April 21, the press service of the Ukrainian president said Poroshenko had had talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and they had allegedly "agreed on further moves towards a possible deployment of a peacekeeping contingent in Donbas under the UN aegis". There have been no statements to this respect from the United Nations so far.

A peace deal struck on February 12 in Minsk, Belarus, by leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France envisaged a ceasefire between Ukrainian forces and people’s militias starting from February 15, followed by withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of military engagement and prisoner release.

Among the terms of the deal was agreement for international observers sent by the 57 member states of the OSCE to monitor the truce.