Kuchma slams Russian proposals for Donbas peacekeeping
KYIV. Sept 15 (Interfax) - A United Nations peacekeeping mission can be deployed in Donbas only after Kyiv regains control over the Ukrainian-Russian border section, Ukraine's second president (1994-2005) and representative to the Trilateral Contact Group Leonid Kuchma said.
"I think that the format suggested by Russia is totally derisive in relation to Ukraine. [It can happen] only after the Ukrainian-Russian border is closed," Kuchma told reporters on the sidelines of the 14th Yalta European Strategy Annual Meeting "Is This a New World? And What Does It Mean for Ukraine?" in Kyiv on Friday. He had been asked about the possibility of a UN peacekeeping mission's deployment to Donbas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that UN peacekeepers could be present all over Donbas to protect the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe mission. Moscow, however, said that the possible deployment of peacekeepers to Ukraine's border with Russia would be a violation of the Minsk Agreements.