CSTO chief sees no point in OSCE armed peacekeeping mission in Donbass

YEREVAN, June 7. /TASS/. There is no sense in deploying an armed peacekeeping mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in troubled Donbass as the situation there can be settled only through the implementation of the Minsk agreements, Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Nikolai Bordyuzha said on Tuesday.

"Frankly speaking, I see no point in such a mission, since is OSCE peacekeepers bear weapons such weapons, in line with the law, could be used only for personal protection," he said.

He stressed that the only way of settling the situation is to fulfill the Minsk agreements and a military mission would not be able to change the situation cardinally.

"It is yet another Ukraine’s attempt to dodge solution of the most important political issues through piling up initiative on peacekeepers, on an armed mission, on anything else they might invent. It is done only to hide the unwillingness to implement the Minsk agreements," Bordyuzha stressed.

According to the CSTO secretary general, the organization has received no invitations to deploy military missions in Donbass. "There have been none and there will be none, bearing in mind Ukraine’s special position," he said.