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Kiev demands Russian representatives be excluded from Donbass peacekeeping mission

Vladimir Putin previously backed deploying UN peacekeepers to Donbass

© AP Photo/Jane Hahn

KIEV, September 5. /TASS/. The Donbass peacekeeping mission should not include representatives from Russia or the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"In case a decision is made to carry out a peacekeeping operation, the presence of the aggressor state’s disguised military or other personnel on Ukraine’s soil should be out of the question, because it would run contrary to the basic principles of the UN’s peacekeeping activities," the statement reads. "Equally, no permission to carry out the operation should be required from the illegal armed groups active on certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which receive support, funding and technical assistance from Russia," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.

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Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has taken note of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement about the possibility of deploying UN peacekeepers to Donbass, the ministry said.

"We believe that the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping mission may help restore peace and security in eastern Ukraine," the statement reads. According to the ministry, "such an operation could be aimed at ensuring a sustainable peace in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions based on the Minsk Agreements and in compliance with the major principles of the UN Charter, while the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission’s presence should be increased."

"As a staunch supporter of the initiative to deploy a UN peacekeeping mission to Donbass, Ukraine is ready to work on the issue. In connection with this, the Ukrainian mission to the United Nations has been instructed to hold consultations with the UN Security Council members," the statement adds.

At the same time, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that the Russian president’s statement "is another attempt to distort the very idea of a peacekeeping operation," which was proposed by the Ukrainian president in March 2015.

In this regard, the ministry stated that the Donbass peacekeeping mission should not include representatives from Russia and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics.

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