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UN mission deployment in Donbass should be agreed with self-proclaimed republics - LPR

U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker said earlier that both the DPR and LPR should not be engaged in discussion on the UN mission

LUGANSK, November 11. /TASS/. The United Nations’ mission will not be deployed in Donbass if the self-proclaimed Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republic (LPR and DPR) do not give their approval, LPR leader Igor Plotnitsky said on Saturday.

U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker said earlier that both the DPR and LPR should not be engaged in discussion on the UN mission.

"Open the OSCE mandate and have a look at how, when the mission is deployed. Two parties to the conflict need to be present. In our case, they are Ukraine on the one side and the LPR and DPR on the other. Therefore, consent from both sides to the conflict is required to deploy any peacekeeping forces," Plotnitsky was quoted as saying by the Luganskinformcenter news agency.

"We are one of the sides, so if we do not agree, if we do not give permission, no mission can come here as of today. What is more, the operation is very expensive," he added. "I know a few countries, including China, which now, if permission is given, can provide financial support for deployment of such a mission in [Donbass]."

On September 5, the Russian mission to the UN forwarded a draft resolution on deploying a UN mission along the contact line in Donbass to the UN Secretary General and the President of the Security Council. The document presumed that the peacekeepers would ensure security of members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM).

President Putin, who instructed the diplomats to send the draft resolution, said deployment of a UN contingent would be possible only after a pullback of weaponry from the contact line and on the condition of consent from the self-proclaimed unrecognized Donetsk and Lugansk republics.

Kiev said right after that it was discontent with the format of the mission proposed by Putin and it was insisting on the deployment of a ‘peacekeeping force’ along the Ukrainian-Russian border.

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