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Kremlin comments on possible UN mission deployment to Donbass

Moscow believes it is possible to deploy a UN mission to the region only if Kiev and the self-proclaimed Donbass republics reach an agreement

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Russia’s stance on the deployment of a UN mission to eastern Ukraine has not changed, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

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Ukraine's president requests UNSC to deploy UN mission to Donbass as soon as possible

In response to a question by a Ukrainian journalist, he said that Moscow believed it would be possible to deploy such a mission to the region only if Kiev and the self-proclaimed Donbass republics reached an agreement on that matter.

According to Peskov, Russia’s position is well-known. "As one of the guarantors of the Minsk Agreements, Russia and President Putin do not oppose the deployment of an international mission, aimed at ensuring the security of OSCE observers," he said. "At the same time, Putin has pointed out that the mission’s deployment would be impossible in case the parties to the conflict make an agreement, while Russia is not one of those," he stressed, noting that the parties to the conflict included Kiev, as well as the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.

The Russian presidential spokesman also noted that at his annual news conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Kiev was unwilling to build such contacts.

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