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Kremlin assures that Moscow won't suspend humanitarian aid to Donbass residents

Vladimir Putin previously backed deploying UN peacekeepers to Donbass

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

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MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. Russia will not halt humanitarian assistance to Donbass residents, though a certain restructuring in this arrangement is underway, Kremlin Spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said, commenting on information published by RBC that starting from 2019, the Russian government would suspend "humanitarian assistance to certain territories" in favor of financing projects in Crimea and Kaliningrad. These "certain territories" were construed to allegedly refer to Donbass, RBC said.

"We have not been considering, nor will we consider refusing humanitarian assistance to the residents of Donbass," the press secretary affirmed. "For humanitarian reasons, Russia will continue taking care of those people, who were torn by the civil war in their own country."

"There is a certain re-allotment, but that does not mean there will be any cuts in favor of others," he noted. "We are speaking only about structuring.

RBC reported earlier on Friday, referring to its sources, the self-proclaimed Republics DPR and LPR from 2019 may receive less assistance from the Russian budget - those resources may be used to finance construction and modernization of infrastructures in Crimea and Kaliningrad. The Finance Ministry was ordered to make respective changes to the draft budget for 2018-2019.

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FACTBOX: Collective Security Treaty Organization

The Collective Security Treaty came into force on April 20, 1994 to herald the emergence what would eventually become the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The six member-countries are Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan