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Kremlin slams attempts to brand Russia as aggressor while discussing UN mission to Donbass

The Kremlin spokesman pointed out that President Putin has more than once expressed readiness to do everything possible to achieve a compromise

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, September 21. /TASS/. Moscow is ready for reasonable compromises concerning the UN security mission to Donbass but attempts to brand Russia as an aggressor in the conflict are unacceptable, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

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UN peacekeepers should use force only for self-defense — Lavrov

While commenting on the wording suggested by Kiev, he said it was unacceptable. "If they take such a position and claim that Russia is an aggressor, then it leaves little room to manoeuvre," Peskov said. According to him, such position "disregards the actual situation" as Russia is not a party to the conflict but one of the guarantors of the Minsk Agreements, "which are the basis of the settlement process."

The Kremlin spokesman pointed out that "Russia and President Putin have more than once expressed readiness to do everything possible to achieve a compromise, but any compromise has its degree of reasonableness and acceptability." When asked if the Kremlin had studied the Kiev-drafted resolution, Peskov said that diplomats were working on that.

Russia’s initiative

On September 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin handed instructions to the Foreign Ministry to submit a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council, stipulating the deployment of UN peacekeepers to Donbass in order to ensure the OSCE mission members’ security. Putin pointed out that the deployment of the UN forces would become possible only after the weapons withdrawal process completed and the issue was agreed on with the self-proclaimed Donbass republics. The Russian president said that the deployment of the UN forces could help resolve the Ukrainian issue. On September 11, in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin agreed it might be possible to deploy UN peacekeepers not only along the line of contact in Donbass.

The Russian-drafted resolution concerning the UN mission to Ukraine, is currently under consideration at the UN Security Council. Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya told TASS on Sunday that after the first discussion of the document, the Ukrainian and US delegations said they were not ready to work on it. At the same time, Ukraine is likely to submit its own draft resolution to the UN Security Council.

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